
Qass tib 0^33 
Book Q^Oj . 



tiEPARf MENT OF COMMERCE AND LABOR 

BUREAU OF MANUFACTURES 

JOHN M, CARSON, Chief 



LACE INDUSTRY 

IN 

ENGLAND AND FRANCE 



By 
W. A. GRAHAM CLARK 

Special Agent of the Department of Commerce and Labor 




WASHINGTON 

GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 

1909 




DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE AND LABOR 
BUREAU OF MANUFACTURES 

JOHN M. CARSON, Chief 



LACE INDUSTRY 

IN 

ENGLAND AND FRANCE 



By 

W. A. GRAHAM CLARK 

Special Agent of the Department of Commerce and Labor 




WASHINGTON 

GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 

1909 



*>i 



s 



0, OF 0. 

IAN 82 1909 



CONTENTS. 



Letter of submittal 5 

LACE MAKING AT NOTTINGHAM. 

Extent of Industry: 

United States takes nearly one-half the output — Present methods of 

manufacture 9 

Extensive American purchases 9 

Working periods and factory buildings 10 

Machine variations and improvements 11 

Dissemination of methods — Fancy-lace machines 11 

Speed of machine — Preparing the yarn 14 

Band circular machine 15 

Curtain-machine operations 18 

Working out designs 18 

Dressing and finishing factories 19 

Drying machine — Net-lace dressing 20 

High temperature not considered unhealthful 21 

Uniform sales lists 21 

Wage schedules: 

Rates are fixed by arbitration — Comprehensive price lists for every line. . . 24 

Levers branch of the Nottingham lace trade 24 

Plain-net branch of the Nottingham lace trade 26 

Circular lace machines making plain nets 27 

Lace-curtain branch of the Nottingham lace trade 27 

Operatives and living conditions: 

Better paid than Calais workers — Income and expenses — Labor organiza- 
tion : 29 

Proportion of lace workers 29 

Comparison of conditions 30 

Cost of living 31 

Housing of operatives 31 

Rents and taxation 33 

Labor unions 33 

Consular report 34 



LACE MAKING AT CALAIS. 

Development of lace making: 

Early became centered at Calais — Greatly aided by the Jacquard attach- 
ment 39 

History of the industry 39 

Present location and importance 40 

Some grievances of the manufacturers 40 

3 



4 CONTENTS. . 

Deaelopment of lace making — Continued. Page. 

( Jt< >wth of industry 41 

Skilled labor commands high pa}" 42 

Conditioning halls — Labor unions 42 

Variations in the trade 43 

Lace machine and lace factory: 

Different types of mechanisms — Specially planned mill buildings are 

needed 44 

Narrow lace making 44 

Operation of bars 46 

Large number of threads 46 

Construction of buildings 47 

Four departments — Importance of designing 48 

Making designs 49 

Preparation of the yarn 50 

Inspection and finishing 50 

Wages paid in Calais: 

Schedule of pay drawn up through joint agreement — Variations according 

to business conditions 52 

Summary of wages 58 



ILLUSTRATIONS. 



Page. 
Fig. 1. 372-inch lace curtain machine as made by Swift & Wass for Swiss and 

combination curtains 12 

Fig. 2. One of Jardine's patent "Go-through" machines, 184 inches wide on 

the metal, and for 160 top bars 13 

Fig. 3. Jardine's elliptical gearing arrangement for "Go-through " machines.. 14 

Fig. 4. Bobbin chariot used on plain net machine; full size 16 

Fig. 5. Bobbin chariot used on Levers fancy lace machines 16 

Fig. 6. Double locker plain net machine 17 

Fig. 7. Typical Nottingham lace mill, with rear view of 5-room dwellings used 

by lace makers 32 

Fig. 8. A typical "terrace" row of houses as occupied by Nottingham lace 

makers 32 

Fig. 9. Lace machine making Valenciennes 45 






LETTER OF SUBMITTAL. 



Nottingham, England, August 14, 1908. 

Sir: I have the honor to submit herewith a brief sketch of some 
phases of the fancy-lace industry of Nottingham and Calais as found 
from my recent investigations at these points. 

The Calais section, in France, and the Nottingham section, in Eng- 
land, supply the bulk of the fancy lace and net requirements of the 
world. St. Gall, in Switzerland, is the embroidery center of the world, 
as is Plauen, in Saxony, for embroidered lace, and Barmen, in the Rhine 
Province, for Barmen laces, but none of these products is lace in the 
correct sense of the word, the first two using the embroidery machine 
and the latter the braiding machine. 

Over half of the American imports of cotton goods — $41,443,363 
out of $79,524,943 in calendar year 1907 — consisted of laces and 
embroideries. Of this great amount the United Kingdom supplied 
$7,256,131 and France $12,260,861, which were in both cases nearly 
entirely lace, as the embroideries were supplied by Switzerland and 
Germany. The import of lace alone, therefore, is fully twenty million 
dollars a year. 

The French and English find their best lace markets in the United 
States. By calling attention to this fact and showing something of 
the conditions of manufacture in Europe, I trust that this report 
may assist in stimulating efforts that are now being made to initiate 
this industry in America and that the American manufacturer may 
finally gain as large or larger percentage of the fancy-lace trade as he 
has already of the smaller lace-curtain branch. 
Very respectfully, 

W. A. Graham Clark, 

Special Agent. 

To Hon. Oscar S. Straus, 

Secretary of Commerce and Lahor. 

5 



LACE MAKING AT NOTTINGHAM 



61893—09 2 



EXTENT OF INDUSTRY. 



UNITED STATES TAKES NEARLY ONE-HALF THE OUTPUT PRESENT 

METHODS OF MANUFACTURE. 

Nottingham, in the Midlands, is the center of the lace and hosiery- 
industries of Great Britain, though much of the lace finished and 
sold here is manufactured at smaller outside centers in England or 
in the border towns of Scotland. This is especially true of the 
curtain trade, of which Nottingham has only a small proportion of 
the total factories, but does most of the dyeing, starching, and 
finishing work. 

. The lace industry in and around Nottingham is divided into three 
branches — the Levers fancy lace, the plain net, and the lace-curtain 
branches — each with a standard wage schedule of its own. The 
fancy-lace branch of the trade is by far the largest, followed by the 
plain net, and then the curtain. 

The leading manufacturers estimate the total output of lace of all 
kinds from Nottingham at 4,000,000 to 5,000,000 pounds, worth 
about $20,000,000 to $25,000,000 annually. The government sta- 
tistics showing that Great Britain exports this much annually would 
tend to indicate that much lace is made in the scattered sections 
outside of this center. 

EXTENSIVE AMERICAN PURCHASES. 

The cotton and silk lace and net and articles made thereof exported 
by Great Britain in 1907 amounted to $35,474,206, and of this 
amount $15,396,911 worth was sent to the United States alone. 
Over a third of the total lace exported by Great Britain was imported 
and then reexported, and over half the lace bought by the United 
States from Great Britain every year is of Continental origin. This 
is shown by British official figures covering exports for 1907, as 
follows : 



Description. 


To all 
countries. 


To United 

States. 


British made cotton lace and patent net 

British made silk lace and articles thereof 


$23, 709, 048 

670, 589 

8,924,241 

2, 170, 328 


$6, 837, 725 
132,826 

6, 483, 502 


Foreign made cotton lace and articles thereof 


Foreign made silk lace and articles thereof 


1,942,858 






Total 


35,474,206 


15,396,911 





10 LACE MAKING AT NOTTINGHAM. 

Great Britain imported in 1907, $17,207,622 worth of cotton laces 
and $1,361,242 worth of silk laces. 

It is seen that the United States is Great Britain's most important 
market for lace and its manufactures, for of British made lace 
exported the United States absorbed nearly 30 per cent and of the 
foreign made lace reexported it took over 75 per cent. Of the 
British made laces the bulk is shipped from Nottingham. For the 
fiscal year ending June 30, 1908, the American consulate at Notting- 
ham records the lace shipments of all kinds to the United States as 
amounting to $5,423,902, against $6,258,758 for the preceding fiscal 
year. 

Next to the United States the best customers for British made 
laces are Germany, New Zealand, Australia, France, Belgium, Brazil, 
Argentina, and Mexico. 

While the lace trade of Nottingham is prosperous, it does not 
seem to be advancing as fast as the Calais section in the manufacture 
of fancy laces, though it still holds its own in other lines. These are 
the two main lace-making centers of the world. Though Switzer- 
land leads in embroideries, and Germany in etched laces and Barmen 
laces, none of these articles are really lace, as they are not made on 
lace machines but on embroidery and braiding machines. The 
methods and machinery used in the English and French lace making 
are almost identical and each has borrowed part of the trade vocabu- 
lary of the other. 

WORKING PERIODS AND FACTORY BUILDINGS. 

At the present time (October, 1908) the lace trade is in a depressed 
condition due to the financial condition of the world, and factories 
at Nottingham and on the Continent are running short time, and 
some have even stopped, but this depression can not reasonably last 
much longer. Ordinarily the factories run night and day, that is 
up to midnight. Two lace makers, twist hands as they are usually 
called, are employed alternately on each machine and they divide 
the weekly wage made between them. One shift works from 4 to 9 
a. m. and from 2 to 7 p. m. and the other from 9 to 2 and from 7 to 
12. Each alternate week the shifts are changed, so that the one 
that begins at 4 o'clock one week begins at 9 o'clock the next. On 
Saturdays the mill stops at 2 o'clock. In some factories the shifts, 
instead of working five-hour periods, work alternately four and six 
hour periods, and the factories stop at 1 o'clock on Saturday. 

The lace factories of Nottingham are usually three or four stories 
high, and must be built very strongly to sustain the weight of the 
heavy machines, as ordinary lace machines weigh about 12 tons each 
and are closely spaced. The factories are usually in rectangular 
form, but some that have grown up gradually are in all shapes with 
additions here and there. The new factories are up-to-date, though 
the old factories are not very economically or conveniently arranged. 
The rooms are usually well lighted, are 12 to 14 feet high, and of a 
width to set in one machine endwise with an alleyway down the side. 

There are a good many small machine users and to accommodate 
these outside capitalists have erected large factory buildings and 
equipped them with power and light. In such cases there are a good 
many machine owners in one building or even in one room. They 



EXTENT OF INDUSTRY. 11 

usually pay according to the "standing" required for one machine, 
the ordinary 32 by 7 foot standing rent being from 5s. 6d. to 7s. 
($1.34 to $1.70) a week. Besides the machine owners, such factory 
buildings usually contain other men who make a specialty of preparing 
the yarn in the forms required for the machines. 

MACHINE VARIATIONS AND IMPROVEMENTS. 

In addition to the three main types of Levers fancy, plain net, and 
curtain machines, there are in the Nottingham district variations of 
these such as the warp-lace machine for making edgings, purlings, etc. 

At Calais the fancy-lace machine is practically the only one used as 
the net or "tulle" is made mainly at Caudry and Lille. The French 
curtain trade is comparatively small. 

At Nottingham also the fancy-lace machine is by far the most 
important, though there is a very large number of net machines 
employed. The curtains are mainly made elsewhere and finished 
here. At Nottingham the factories now tend to leave the town, as 
they can get cheaper labor with less restrictions outside. Thus 
places like Long Eaton, 7 miles away, which have the newer factories 
with newer machines and cheaper labor, can frequently do work 
cheaper and better than Nottingham itself. In the same way, in 
France, Caudry tends to take away much of the trade of Calais. 

The present fancy-lace machine is due to the French. Though the 
bobbin net lace machine itself was invented in England and smuggled 
over to Fiance, it was not until 1834 when the Jacquard was invented 
and adapted to the use of tins machine in France that the modern 
fancy lace making by machinery really came into existence. Since then 
it has been a race between the English and the French inventors as to 
which could make the most new inventions and adaptations to originate 
new methods and laces. The French seemed to be in the lead till 
recently when the English again went ahead by inventing minor 
improvements and embodying them in a machine 260 inches long, 
whereas the largest in the world heretofore has been 230 inches. 

DISSEMINATION OF METHODS FANCY-LACE MACHINES. 

The English are refusing orders from abroad for some of their new 
improvements, as does one of the largest French manufacturers who 
refuses to sell any of his machines to the United States. Such 
methods can not be successful in the long run. Less than 100 years 
ago the English made heroic efforts to prevent other nations from 
using their machines, and in the case of lace machines any exporter 
was punished with heavy fines and other penalties, even transporta- 
tion to the colonies. These methods were of no avail, for the French 
industry was started with English machines and English workmen 
smuggled across the Channel in spite of all edicts. 

There is not much demand ordinarily for very wide machines. The 
regular widths are 172, 184, and 222 inches. In 1907 of 206 "go- 
through' ' machines sold by John Jardine of Nottingham (the largest 
lace-machine manufacturer in the world) 90 were 172 inches wide on 
the metal, 73 were 184 inches, and 43 were 222 inches wide. The 
fancy-lace machines employed run from 8 to 18 point, which means 
16 to 36 bobbins to the inch of width. The cost of fancy-lace machines 
vary, according to the width, and gage, from $3,000 to $5,000 each. 



12 



LACE MAKING AT NOTTINGHAM. 




EXTENT OF INDUSTRY. 



13 




14 



LACE MAKING AT XOTTIXGHAM, 



There are two general types of the fancy-lace machine, the "Levers 
with lean bars" and the "Levers go-through." In the first the thin 
steel chariots that carry the bobbin, in swinging back and forth across 
the "well" (the central space left for the vertical warp threads) from 
one set of combs to the other land on brass shding bars, while in the 
"go-through" they slide into the combs without any brass bars. 
The trade defines a "go-through" lace machine as one which carries 
the bobbin threads twice through the warp at one revolution of the 
crank, and works without "landing bars." This permits of higher 
speed and as it gives more production it is the one now most largely 
employed. 



SPEED OF MACHINE PREPARING THE YARX. 

Its method of operation, however, puts more strain on the yarn, 
due to the quicker motion, allowing less * ' dwell' ' of the chariots at the 

end of their course, which 
makes more of a j erk at every 
reverse of the direction. The 
Levers with lean bars has 
therefore had to be employed 
for the finer work, but Jar- 
dine has recently modified 
the motion of the chariots by 
means of elliptical gearing so 
that the speed is much less at 
the ends than in the center of 
the swing. As this allows of 
any desired dwell, it tends to 
make this type of machine 
suitable for much work, for 
which heretofore the slower, 
old style machine only was 
adapted. Jardine's elliptical 
gearing arrangement for " Go- 
through' ' machines is shown 
in Fig. 3. 

Fancy-lace machines are 
run at a speed of 110 to 120 
picks per minute. The pro- 
duction varies according to 
the size of the rack, but will average something like a yard an hour. 
The number of inches produced per rack of 1.920 motions is called the 
" quality' J at Nottingham, and is the same as the term "rendement" 
used by the French^ The Levers lace machine is described in my 
Calais report, and as the same type of machine is used at Nottingham 
it is needless to reproduce it here. 

The methods of preparing the yarn, which is bought on either the 
cup or the hank, is also the same. As in France the thin steel bob- 
bins after being taken from the frame have the small portions of thread 
remaining wound off, and are then again filled with thread on a 
bobbin-winding machine, where 120 are filled at one time. Before 
replacing in the machine the bobbins are heated and dropped over 
a central bolt, and a top weight screwed down until they have been 




Fig. 3.— Jardine's elliptical gearing arrangement for 
••Go-througt ;! machines. 



EXTENT OF INDUSTRY. 15 

pressed out perfectly flat. Bobbins are usually made of hard, rolled 
brass in two pieces. A recess in the metal on one side of each piece 
allows space enough to hold the thread after they have been 
riveted together. Usually about thirty minute rivets are used in 
each bobbin. A bobbin for 11 -point lace is so thin when completed 
that it is only one forty-eighth of an inch in thickness, with the yarn 
inside. 

The lace machines at Nottingham have their width stated in 
quarter-yards and this basis is used in the wage schedules. The 
average wages earned by lace makers on Levers fancy -lace machines 
at Nottingham are from 45 to 55 shillings ($10.95 to $13.38) and on 
plain net machines 32 to 44 shillings ($7.78 to $10.70) a week; 
specially skillful workers are paid more. 

BAXD CIRCULAR MACHINE. 

While in the fancy lace line Calais makes more than Nottingham 
and has a greater reputation for artistic work, in making net the 
English are ahead, at least in quantity. Plain net is a very impor- 
tant branch of the lace industry at Nottingham, and there is a large 
export trade, especiaUy to Switzerland, winch uses tons of English- 
made net every year as a foundation material for its embroideries. 
The Jacquard is not usually employed on net machines. The "band 
circular machine" takes up less space and looks simpler than the 
Levers machine, but it is really more complicated, as far as the main 
machine goes, and costs more to build. The prices run from $3,000 to 
$7,000, according to width and gage. The usual gages are 5 to 14. 
These machines are known as " double locker" or " rolling locker" 
plain net machines, according to the method of driving the bobbins. 
The French call them "I jeu" (one play) or "2 jeu" according to 
whether one or two rows of bobbins are employed. In the first 
case if the machine is 300 inches long and there are 16 bobbins side 
by side there will be 4,800 bobbins in all, and in the latter case 
9,600 bobbins. Where two rows of bobbins are used each pair 
swings back and forth in the same line, and as this arrangement 
gets in more threads in the same width it permits of finer work 
and can also be used with special appliances for ornamentation. 

In a fancy -lace machine the two rows of combs or grooved bars in 
which the chariots slide are stationary. In a band circular machine 
they are movable and placed back and front of the warp threads so 
as to be in the circumference of a circle, hence the name "band 
circular machine." When the bobbins have moved through the 
warp, the comb bar, which receives them on the other side, has a 
lateral motion given it equal to the space between two threads. If, 
then, the bobbins be brought back on the contrary side of each ver- 
tical warp thread, each bobbin thread will have made one twist with 
a warp thread. If now the front comb bar be moved laterally till 
each bobbin stands opposite the space from which it first started 
and the bobbins be again passed through and brought again to the 
front on the other side of each vertical warp thread, the threads will 
have been twice twisted. The machines are made so that each 
bobbin, as it gradually moves up from one end of the machine to the 
other and back, can be made to twist one, two, three, or more times 

81803—00 3 






16 



LACE MAKING AT NOTTINGHAM. 



around each of the warp threads met within its course, but usually 
a particular machine will not have more than one variation; that is, 
it can be set to twist two or four times or another one can be set to 




Fig. 4.— Bobbin chariot used on plain net machine; full size. 

twist three or five times, etc. A good band circular machine will 
make more than 30,000 meshes a minute. In the case of the band 




Fu;. r>.— Bobbin chariot used on Levers fancy lace machines. 

circular machine the push bars can not be used to move the chariots, 
as in the Levers machine. They are driven positively by means of 
long gears or pinions, which run from one end of the machine to the 



EXTENT OF INDUSTRY. 



17 




18 LACE MAKING AT NOTTINGHAM. 

other, and which gear with teeth cut in the bottom arc of each chariot. 
The quality of net depends on the smalhiess of the meshes, their 
equality in size, and the regularity of the hexagons. 

In square tulle the machine is made usually with stationary combs 
and only one set of bobbins. There are two long beams under the 
machine, the one carrying the warp threads tightly stretched and 
the other the filling threads loosely wound. The thread from the 
bobbin follows the warp threads and wraps around it and the filling 
where they join together. 

CURTAIN-MACHINE OPERATIONS . 

The lace-curtain machine is the widest lace machine made, as the 
usual width is from 200 up to 440 inches. Ply yarns are nearly 
always employed and the gage is much coarser than ordinarily 
employed on other lace machines. In this, as in other cases, the finer 
the design and the higher the counts of yarn the narrower is the 
machine required. " Point" on a curtain machine means double the 
coarseness of the term as employed for Levers machines; that is, 
10-point Levers lace is made with 20 bobbins to the inch, while 10- 
point curtain lace is made with only 10 bobbins to the inch of width. 
The curtain gages used run from as coarse as 5 up to about 18, and 
the fine gages used on Levers machines are not found on curtain 
work. The prices of curtain machines vary according to the width 
and gage from $2,500 to $3,500. The curtains at Nottingham are 
made in any width from 30 to 75 inches or wider. A usual width 
is 60 inches, and machines are ordinarily made a multiple of this in 
width, with an allowance for side space. On fancy lace machines 
the Jacquards are at the sides as the outline and guimp threads, as well 
as the regular warp threads, are on beams under the machine; curtain- 
lace machines draw the ornamenting threads from a horizontal 
creel of spools at the back of the machine, and so put the Jacquards 
overhead. Fancy-lace machines employ bobbin threads and three 
kinds of beam threads. The lace-curtain machine employs bobbin, 
warp, spool, and extra beam threads. 

Fancy lace is usually made in a series of narrow strips, curtains are 
made in a series of wider breadths, and net is usuaUy made in one 
piece the full width of the machine. 

WORKING OUT DESIGNS. 

It may be noted that the designs for the Jacquard cards are 
punched differently for fancy lace and for curtain lace work. In 
the first case the design is small and quickly read and the cards are 
punched direct on the piano punching machine. For curtains the 
designs are so much larger that the cards are punched by the tying-up 
and selector machine method. This system is as follows: 

The design is drawn on white relief on a black background, then 
transferred and painted in colors on cross-section paper. This sheet 
is fixed on a vertical board to be "read." The reader's object is to 
make arrangements for punching a series of Jacquard cards in the 
order required. Hanging from the frame in front of the reader are 
a number of strings, of the nature of whipcord, and transversely to 
these, at one side of the frame, are other similar cords. The fines in 
the pattern represent lines in the curtain, and for every one there is a 



EXTENT OF INDUSTRY. 19 

cord. The reader so arranges the cords that when attached to the 
selector they will each exercise a controlling effect in producing one 
motion at the correct place in the pattern. The reader rapidly and 
deftly works with his ringers among the cords, separating some and 
taking up others, and getting them in groups, at the same time form- 
ing a kind of interlacement with the transverse cords, so as to show 
in a rough but correct way something of the pattern before him. As 
the reader is paid per 100,000 squares of the pattern read, he has to 
be a skillful worker. A good reader will earn £2 10s. ($12.17) a week. 

When the reading is finished, these carefully grouped cards are laid 
on a long horizontal frame called a "selector," to which, at one end, 
is attached a punching frame. According to the order in which the 
groups of cords fall, each cord acts upon punches to which they are 
connected and in such way as to perforate the required number of 
holes in one card. As each group is in its order taken up by a 
treadle movement they are made to act upon the punches, and 
simultaneously with each perforation movement a card drops into 
the receptacle placed beneath. These cards follow each other in 
sequence of design and are strung together to form the pattern, there 
frequently being 1,500 or more in a design. The cards are laced 
together either by hand or automatically, many of the Nottingham 
manufacturers preferring the slower and more primitive hand system 
as being better and more reliable. 

Whether fancy lace, net, or curtains, the manufacturer's work 
ceases with l 'making," and he usually sells in the gray. They then go 
to the finishing factories. Even where manufacturers own finishing 
plants, which is not usual, the finishing plant is always entirely 
separate and in another part of the town, usually in the suburbs and 
under a different manager. 

DRESSING AND FINISHING FACTORIES. 

Nottingham is noted for its lace-dressing establishments, and 
much lace that is made elsewhere is brought here to be finished, 
making this town the great central point for the lace trade of the 
country. 

The bleaching and finishing of lace, being a special branch of the 
trade, is nearly always carried out by a separate establishment and 
usually by firms who do nothing esle. At Nottingham there are 27 
of these lace and net dressing firms that employ altogether, accord- 
ing to 1907 figures, some 1,638 operatives, of which only 221 are 
men (foremen and laborers mainly), 1,002 adult females, 408 young 
persons (nearly all girls) and 7 children. The women are paid by 
the hour, 2fd. to 3d. an hour, which is about 12s. lOd. to 14s. ($3.12 
to $3.30) for a fifty-six-hour week, and the forewomen in the drying 
rooms £1 10s. ($7.29) a week, while the male laborers average about 
£1 ($4.87) a week. 

The great bulk of the operatives in these dressing factories are 
women, and some firms— at least three or four of the largest— have 
morning services in a chapel connected with the mill from 8 to 8.30, 
which is attended by all operatives and the time is counted in the 
pay roll. 

Lace or net is a delicate fabric and has to be handled carefully in 
the finishing processes. After "making" on the machine it is carted 



20 LACE MAKING AT NOTTINGHAM . 

to the finishing plant. Nearly all of this is in the gray state, as very 
little is made of bleached yarn. Here it is first carried to the "dip- 
ping room" and washed, then bleached with alkaline dyes, again 
washed, and the superfluous water removed in a hydro-extractor. 
Some of the coarser grades are put through the stocks, usually 
curtain work. These, while similar to the familiar stocks employed 
in woolen cloth felting, are of gentler action, the lace being put in 
masses in a big tub, and vertical wooden blocks fastened to hori- 
zontal cranks are used to stamp on it until beaten clean. After 
bleaching, and washing, and in some cases dyeing, the material is 
starched, gelatin being used for silk and rice starch ordinarily for 
cotton materials, the superfluous material squeezed out by running 
between wooden rollers and the material then carried in a wet con- 
dition to the dressing room to be dried. 

DRYING MACHINE NET-LACE DRESSING. 

In the case of curtains and similar coarse materials the drying is 
done by means of the ordinary tentering machine. This machine 
consists of two rows of chain tenterhooks, to which the material is 
attached, and these pass as an endless chain through an inclosed 
drying box heated by multitubular boilers, the air being driven 
through the steam-heated boiler tubes and the lace coming out and 
winding up on a roller at the other end. 

The dressing frames as used for net, etc., consist of a pair of movable 
rails placed about 3 feet above the floor and arranged so that they can 
be separated from each other to any required distance. Each rail car- 
ries a row of pins on which the material is fastened and then a winch 
is used to draw them apart to the original width of the lace as it was 
made in the machine. Some rails are arranged so that they can be 
swung back and forth in opposite directions so as to open out the 
meshes to their correct shape before leaving to dry. This same 
method is used at Tarare, in France, and other similar places for 
squaring the threads in fine muslins before drying. 

The roll of lace as dried on these Nottingham frames is frequently 
300 inches or more in width and is brought to the machine by a gang 
of girls who hold it up and unroll it as the girls at the end deftly and 
quickly fasten the selvages onto the pins, and when the entire web has 
been laid on the winch draws it out to the correct width. Each room 
has two or three sets of frames, so that while one web is drying the 
girls can be putting on or taking off another web. Owing to the 
glutinous nature of the dressing it has a tendency to form a film over 
small mesh goods, so that sometimes the stretched web is beaten 
lightly with small switches or rubbed gently with fine flannel cloths. 
In the case of some fine silk nets the unstarched fabric is placed upon 
the arying and stretching frames and the dressing material applied to 
the stretched material on the frames. 

The drying rooms are usually long, about 100 yards by 15 to 20 
yards wide and 9 to 10 feet high, with numerous wide windows and 
with revolving fans over the frames to assist quick drying. To make 
good work that will give a clear, crisp, elastic finish with correct weight 
and " dress" it is necessary to use the correct size required for the 
particular material, and the temperature and humidity of the drying 
room is also very important. Although ordinarily fine lace and net 



EXTENT OF INDUSTRY. 21 

is not heavily starched, in some eases, such as nets to be used for the 
foundation of bonnets, etc.. the material is starched up to four times 
its original weight. 

HIGH TEMPERATURE NOT CONSIDERED UXHEALTHEUL. 

The temperature of the lace-dressing rooms is necessarily kept high. 
This does not exercise any adverse influence on the health of the 
operatives, as was proved by an investigation made by the British 
Government in 1906. In fact, it was shown that they are an unusually 
healthy and long-lived lot. Among those interrogated were found 
11 lace dressers who had worked in lace-dressing rooms for over fifty 
years each. 21 for over forty years. 33 for over thirty years, and 66 for 
over twenty years. This is probably due to the fact that while the air 
is relatively dry and high it is pure and plentiful in the working rooms, 
for the cubic space per operative in such rooms was found to vary from 
2.000 to 6.000 cubic feet. The ventilation is always good, as it is 
necessary to carry off the moist air arising from the drying webs. 
Though subject to colds at first, the worker's constitution soon gets 
hardened to it and the conditions seem to make them less subject to 
lung troubles than workers in ordinary factories. 

The windows in these rooms frequently extend to the ceiling and 
are furnished with pivot sashes horizontally swung, a form of sash 
which gives a maximum of opening when the casement lies in a 
horizontal plane. In rooms usino; the inclosed continuous t entering 
machine alone the temperature is not more than 80° F.. except in 
the immediate neighborhood of the openings and the feeding end 
of the machine. In the regular lace-dressing rooms the 1906 inquiry 
showed the highest temperature found to be 106° and the lowest 67° 
P.. and the driest air discovered contained 27 per cent of saturation 
and the moistest 53 per cent of saturation. 

After bleaching and dressing, the lace is inspected and mended. 
This is carried on in clean, well-lighted rooms and the girls are very 
skillful in remedying defects with their needles. For working on 
white lace the girls often wear blue or black aprons. For scalloped or 
vandyked edges " clippers" cut around the shaped edges and remove 
the superfluous material. For clipping off floats as made on fancy 
lace, etc., the piece is wound between two beams on a small trestle: 
a yard is unwound at a time and two girls carefully clip off all floating 
threads and then unwind another yard. Where such floats are in a 
straight line, as occurs on some types of lace, this can be done by 
machine. There is less outside clipping work in the Nottingham than 
in the Calais district, one reason being that net and curtains, that form 
a good proportion of the Nottingham trade, do not usually have such 
floats. 

The lace is edged by girls called ••purlers." Formerly the usual 
custom was to cut off the projecting threads and then turn down the 
edges and sew on a tape, but a Singer machine is now largely employed 
that has been designed to trim, scallop, and overedge the curtains at 
one operation. Either the tape or an overlock seam can be made as 
desired. 

UNIFORM SALES LISTS. 

At St. Gall the United States Treasury agent, after consultation 

with the manufacturers, etc.. makes up a standard list of price- to 
which all have to conform in shipping embroideries to the United 



22 



LACE AIAKIXG AT NOTTINGHAM. 



States. Such a system was partially tried at Nottingham for nets, 
and for a while a committee of two of the leading manufacturers and 
five of the larger finishers met regularly with the American consul and 
fixed values for the different grades, and. these were adopted as the 
uniform prices for invoicing goods during the ensuing three months. 
Quite recently the Nottingham trade has raised objection on the 
ground that there was no similar system used with their competitors 
at Calais, so that this system has been temporarily dropped until some 
uniform method could be invented for all. The last list of uniform 
prices made up, which, owing to the state of the trade, was much lower 
than those preceding, is still about the basis ' on which such goods are 
now being invoiced and is given below as showing the standard sizes 
and something of the range of prices: 

Schedule for cotton mosquito netting. 

Prices are net. with no allowance whatever. Prices are in pence per yard of length 
and based on a standard width of 240 inches; other widths in proportion. Prices are 
for white goods, scoured ecru being considered the same as white. The nets are listed 
according to the number of holes or meshes per square inch. 





Holes. 


Price in 
pence. 




f 16 


12i 




17 


131 




IS 


14 




19 


15 




20 


16 




21 


17 




00 


18| 


Light grade, Xos. 40/60 or 50/60 cotton 


23 


19i 




24 


21 




25 


22| 




26 


24 




27 


25 




28 


26 




29 


28 




30 


30 



(Arab, 16 to 22 holes, lid. extra; Arab, 22 to 26 holes, lfd. extra: Aral-, above 26 holes, 2d. extra.) 



Double grade, Nos. 30/30 or 28/30 cotton 



Roles. 


Price in 




pence. 


i(i 


lvi 


17 


19i 


is 


20i 


19 


21| 


20 


22! 


21 


2A\ 


22 


26| 


23 


28! 


24 


29|- 


1 25 


30 



(Arab, 3d. extra for fine qualities or 2bl. for slacker.) 



Holes. 



Treble grade, NTo. 20 20 cotton. 



Price in 
pence. 



16 

17 
18 
19 I 
20 



24 
25i 
27-V 
28! 

80 



(Arab, 4Jd. extra.) 



EXTEXT OF INDUSTRY. 



23 



Schedule for cotton Mechlin nets. 

Prices are net with no discount whatever. Prices are based on standard width of 
36 inches and other widths are listed in proportion. Prices are for white goods; black 
or colors are one-quarter penny extra. 





Holes. 


Price in 
pence. 




f 20 


m 




21 


if 


Coarse cotton Mechlin nets 


22 


ii 




23 


m 




24 


2 




25 


21 




26 


2i 




27 


2i 


These nets are lial >le to vary two holes, this being unavoidable, bobbin and mosquito . 


28 
29 


2| 

3 




30 


3| 




31 


3^ 
3| 




32 




30 


3i 




31 


3* 




32 


3| 

3| 
4 


Fine cotton Mechlin nets 


33 
34 






35 


4§ 




36 


4i 




37 


4§ 


These nets usually vary only one hole ■ 


38 
39 


4| 




5 



40 



Bobbin bretonne or wash blonde. 

Prices are net with no discount whatever. Prices are based on standard width of 36 
inches, other widths in proportion. Prices are for white goods; ecru, black, and other 
colors about one-quarter more. Prices are for goods in boxes; if unboxed about one- 
eighth less. 



61893—09- 



Holes. 


Price in 


Holes. 


Price in 




pence. 




pence. 


18 


9 


37 


5| 


19 


91 


38 


6 


20 


21 


39 


<H 


21 


2£ 


40 


6§ 


22 


21 


41 


i 


23 


2| 


42 


"i 


24 


21 


43 


7f 


25 


3 


44 


«k 


26 


33 


45 


84 


27 


H 


46 


8| 


28 


3| 


47 


9 


29 


4 


48 


9} 


30 


4', 


49 


10 


31 
32 


I 


.50 
51 


10J 

11 


33 


52 


12J 


34 


5 


53 


13' 


35 


52 


54 


14i 


36 


51 


55 


15 



WAGE SCHEDULES 



RATE- ALE FIXED BY ARBITRATION COMPREHENSIVE PRICE LISTS 

FOB EVERT LINE. 

In August, 1905, the Board of Trade appointed an arbitrator to 
settle disputes between the Nottingham Lace Manufacturers 1 Asso- 
ciation and the Amalgamate S ietj : Operative Lace Makers. 
After conference with both sides the arbitrator drew up a separate 
piecework schedule for each of the three branches of the trade, the 
Levers branch, the plain net branch, and the lace curtain branch. 
This schedule is now in force and will continue to be in force in the 
city of Nottingham until October 23. 19101. when it will be open to 
revision by t-itker party on two months' notice being given. 

LEVERS BRANCH OE THE VOTTIXGHaM LACE TRADE. 

For the Levers branch the arbitrator divided the laces made into 
the foUowing 15 classes, with special remunerations for each: 

I. Plain bobbin fining goods and banded Valenciennes. 
_ n k Threaded bobbin fining goods. 

rton loop lace. 
- Valenciennes made with all independent beams. 
5. Giniped ^ alencienn— 

I orchons. guipures, maltese. and Cluny. 

7. Silk. Spanish. 

8. Blonde laces and streamers, and masque falls. 

_ silk sprig or striped nets. 
10. Spot :: sprig nets 

II. Silk veiling and fancy ne:?. 

12. Earab-jLrr? ar.d Russian points. 

13 . T rimmings . 

\A I agley's. 

15. Wool yak h 

The following general instructions apply-t-:» all of the foregoing 
price lists for Levers lace: 

1. All bars at work to be cour. .edge bars and bars threaded at bru 
only. Xo bars to be counted twi 

2. When the front bars in Yandy r ; -•_■ Eiffel laces are guimping even" motion so 
as 1 vex the whole of the pattern with rais • ". fl ss work, and additional Id. per 

: r even- 10 or portion of 10 shall be added to the price. 

3. When the bottom jacquard is out of gear. id. per rack shall only be paid for 

100 or portion of 100 threaded bottom 

4. When bars threaded are not required in a pattern, and are marked on the dead- 
stop paper as "in or out." the threads may be left up or pulled down at the discretion 
of the lace ma>. save alteration, but such bars shall not be paid for. The bars 
marked ""in or out " shall only apply to back or center gimps and warp thrr - 

hanging or racking cards. Id. per rack up to two packs, beyond two packs lid. 
per rack. 

Then making cross bands, W. per rack per line up to four lines. Xo advance 
ad four li: - 
7. In calculating the length of rack the quality to be measured on the machine, 
according to the order given. 

stay one hour after the ordinary time for changing shifts 

24 



WAGE SCHEDULES. 25 

9. In case of necessity, as getting a piece off which is urgently needed or to make 
samples, men working single-handed may stay one hour later than the usual time, 
such time to be taken off the following day. 

10. All materials which have been dyed to represent the natural colors of silk, cot- 
ton, wool, or linen shall be paid for as colors. 

11. When two colors or shaded threads are worked in the bobbins ^d. per rack to 
be paid. When more than two colors or shaded threads are worked in the bobbins 
^d. per rack to be paid. When working brown or white with any color or shaded 
thread in the bobbins these clauses to apply. 

Lace makers' working shifts to stop not less than twenty minutes for breakfast, tea, 
and supper. Single-handed men and lace makers on day work to stop thirty minutes 
for breakfast and tea, one hour for dinner. The exact hour of stoppage to be arranged 
by the employer and the shop committee. 

No stoppages shall be made for places caused by the fault of the machine, whether 
it be the jacquards, cards, or other portions of the machinery. Where neglect of the 
workman cause extra mending, places across or spoiled work, and where a workman 
fails to cam' out written instructions in a workmanlike manner, a claim for stoppage 
may be made by the employer, but all claims must be supplied in writing with par- 
ticulars to the shop committee. Unless the shop committee receive such particulars 
and consent to the stoppage, no stoppage shall be made, and the employer shall be 
left to such other remedy as may be open to him. 

There shall be one learner to every seven or portion of seven men, such learner to 
serve for four years, and to be paid as follows: For the first two years the learner shall 
receive one-half the rack price: the third year five-eighths, and for the fourth and 
last year, three-fourths on one-half the racks made upon the machine in which the 
learner is placed. The difference to be equally divided between the employer and 
teacher. The above rule applies to alterations also. In all cases the teacher must be 
an operative lace maker. 

All work when lace makers are not making racks shall be called "day work" (except 
tying in warps or reentering instead of tying in), and shall be paid for at the rate of 
5s. per day of ten hours. 

When five consecutive hours are made in any alteration the time to be paid for as 
half a day. Saturday shall be paid for as a full day when two other full days have 
been worked in the same week. When less than two full days have been worked, 
Saturday shall be paid for as half a day. 

The foregoing are the shop rules for Levers machine work. The 
system of payment according to the decision of the arbitrator is 
shown by the complete list for the first article, which is as follows: 

/. Plain bobbin fining goods and banded Valenciennes. 

(TVithout thick threads, lining threads or gimps: made with top or 
top and bottom bars.) 

Standards: Rack 1.920 motions; gage, 10 points; width of machine above IS and 
below 20 quarters of a yard; quality from 9 to 15 inches, inclusive; bars up to and 
including 80 — all top net bars (not inclusive of net bars traversing more than 5 gates), 
backs, fronts, and band threads to be counted as bars, price fivepence halfpenny per 
rack; minimum price for any width or gage, fourpence halfpenny per rack. 

Bars: For even- 20 or portion of 20 bars over BO, one farthing per rack; for even* 50 
or portion of 50 bottom bars up to 600, one farthing per rack, no advance beyond 600; 
for every 10 or portion of 10 net bars traversing more than 5 gates, one farthing per 
rack; for even- 10 or portion of 10 straight threads in a breadth not thicker than 60/3 
or its equivalent, one-eighth per rack; coarser than 60/3 or its equivalent, for every 
10 or portion of 10, one farthing per rack. 

Fluctuations: (I I Gages above 10 points up to and including 12 points 1 farthing 
per gage to be added; beyond 12 points 1 farthing per half gage to be added; and 
gages below 10 points 1 farthing to be deducted — no deduction below 8 point* _ 
quality below 9 inches to 8 inches, inclusive, 1 farthing per rack to be deducted; 
below 8 inches a further farthingto be deducted; quality above 15 inches to 20 ii 
inclusive, 1 farthing per rack to be added; above 20 inches a further farthing to 
be added: (3) for 16 quarters and above 16 quarters up to 18 quarters, inclusive, 1 
farthing per rack to be deducted: below 16 quarters a further farthing to be deducted; 
for 20 quarters and below 22 quarters 1 farthing per rack to be added: for 22 quar- 
ters and above a further farthing to be added. Extras: (1) Black, pearl white, or 
all silk, 1 penny per rack; (2; silk, tussah, wool, or China grass worked from inde- 



2b LACE MAKING AT NOTTINGHAM. 

pendent beams, one-eighth of a penny per rack per thread np to 4 threads in a breadth, 
no advance beyond 4 threads; when black, pearl white, silk, nissah. wool, or 
China grass are confined to the bobbins. 1 halfpenny per rack only to be added; 
lien in making cotton goods silk is nsed in lacers and draw threads only. 1 
farthing per rack to be added; (4) lacing threads on the net. 1 farthing per i 
rn using whipper bobbins. 1 farthing per rail: led. 

In the above, "quarters'" refer to the width of the machine in 
quarters of a yard. ■'Quality'" refers to the number of inches of 
produced per rack of 1,920 motions. 

PLAIN-NET BEANCH OF THE NOTTINGHAM LACE TRADE. 

By agreement between the Nottingham Lace Manufacturers 1 Asso- 
ciation and the Amalgamated Society of Operative Lace Makers an 

arbitrator was called in to settlewag lisputes and he made up price 
foil )wing ilass s of n 

□ ular lace machine making plain re: - 

iff quality plain nets: (a) with double cotton in bobbin-. with single otton 
in bobbins. 
Cos.: s gages 
] I IriTig quilling: (a) cotton quillings. (6) silk quillings. 

-- .- : ±ve 
] hlin nets: (a 12 -motion cotton mechlin. (6) 20-motion cotton mechi^i 
motion silkniechlin. single tier. « d 12-motion silk mechlin. double tie: 1 motion 

_echlin. 
ilar machines making diamonds. 
S] rig net, with traverse ground. 
Traverse net, with spotting: (a) silk goods, (6) cotton goods. 

The following general instructions apply to ail of abov 

"When a lace maker in the plain net section is employed otherwise than in making 
lace in a machine, such employment shall be termed day work: the term da> — rk 
shall include springing carriages when altering front one class of goods to another, 
reentering parts of beams or warps knocked down through no fault of the emplc yee, 
or reenterii^ - cut out before being emptied: day work shall be paid for at the 

rate of 5s. per day of ten hours when all the mach -: an ding, and a proportion 

of this when one or more machines are going. 

rt alterations: \1~ "When five consecutive hours are made in any alteration the 
time shall be paid for as half a day ; _ Sal : day shall be paid for as a full day when 
two other full days have been worked in the same week: when less than two full days 
have beei. Saturday shall be paid for as half a day: (3 I the lace maker may 

stay one hour after the ordinary time for changing ;--.:: (s; - in !ase :: easily as 
getting off a piece urgently needed or to make samples, men working single-handed 
niay stay one hour later than the usual h time to be taken oft the following 

the foregoing rules are to be generally recognized as shop rules for the whole 
trade: any other shop rules in any particular shop must be such as are agreed to by 
the employer and employ - 

Minors, working in plain net branch: The full rack price to be paid to the machine; 
there shall be one learner to every seven or por en men. such learner to 

- : ; .nd to be paid as follows: For the first thre 3d. in the 

shilling, and for the last nine months of the firs: . . -.'. in the shilling: 4M. the 
secoi. ' I. the thi: " . the last year; providing . 

put in the machines be tin: 5 years E age, he must attain the age :: 19 before 
here shilling; any person introduced into the trade shall. 

having served four years in a machine, in any branch or branches of the trade, 
usidered a competent lace maker: the teacher shall undertake the general 
management of the machine, shall be responsible for the quality of lace made, and 

- far the orders being executed correctly and in a workmanlike manner. 



WAGE SCHEDULES. 27 

CIRCULAR LACE MACHINES MAKING PLAIN NETS. 

The system of payment in the plain net branch is shown by the 
following price list, standard rack, 240 holes: 

(1) Twelve quarters, 10 points, brown cotton plain net, eleven-sixteenths of a penny 
per rack, and one-sixteenth of a penny in addition for every 13^ inches in width above a 
12 quarter. The following clause applies only to plain nets, quillings, tapes, and 
mechlins: No extras to be paid when working 40s or 50s, single cotton in the bob- 
bins; when working over 50s up to 80s, inclusive, one-sixteenth extra, and when 
beyond 80s, one-eighth extra. All machines working with single cotton on the warp, 
one-eighth extra. (2) Twelve quarters, 10 points, making plain silk goods in natural 
colors (white or yellow), seven-eighths of a penny per rack; 12 quarters, 10 points, 
making queen's or other breadths, Id. per rack; and to be raised one-sixteenth 
of a penny per quarter of 9 inches on all machines above 12 quarters making silk. 
(3) For taping up to three-quarters of a bar, 1 farthing per rack extra; from three- 
quarters of a bar up to craping, three-eighths of a penny per rack extra; for craping, 
seven-sixteenths of a penny per rack extra. (4) When working jacked-off silk, one- 
eighth of a penny per rack extra. (5) All odd inches in the machines to be added 
together and if they amount to 6 inches, to be paid for as 13^ inches. (6) All machines 
working half gage to be paid for at the same rate as if working full gage. 

LACE-CURTAIN BRANCH OF THE NOTTINGHAM LACE TRADE. 

By agreement between the Nottingham Lace Manufacturers' Asso- 
ciation and the Amalgamated Society of Operative Lace Makers an 
arbitrator was called in to settle wage disputes, and he made up price 
lists for the following classes of curtains : 

Three-gate curtains; four-gate curtains; three-gate curtains, muslin goods made 
with one bar only not full threaded; three-gate curtains, muslin goods made with 
one full threaded bar; three-gate curtains, muslin goods made with two bars, not 
full threaded ; swiss curtains; combination and madras curtains; three-gate purls and 
scollops, laces, and hamburgh nets; three-gate silk nets. 

The following general instructions apply to all of above: 

Alterations: All work when lace makers are not making racks shall be called "day 
work " (except when tying in main warps or reentering instead of tying in) and shall 
be paid for at the rate of 5s. per day; when a warp is cut out before being entered, 
the fresh warp shall be paid under short alterations, but the warp cut out shall not 
be paid for when reentered if the warp in the machine is emptied. 

Short alterations: When five consecutive hours are made in any alteration the time 
to be paid for as half a day; when more than two lace makers are employed on short 
alterations in one machine each man shall be paid 6d. an hour; Saturday shall be 
paid for as a full day when two other full days have been worked in the same week, 
but when less than two full days have been worked the Saturday must be paid for as 
half a day; when short alterations have to be made it shall be permissible for the 
lace maker to come one hour before the ordinary time or stay one hour after the 
ordinary time for changing shifts; it is also permissible for single-handed men to 
come half an hour earlier or stay half an hour later in order to get a piece oil which 
is wanted or to get out a sample, the time so made to be lost within seven days; no 
shop rules, except those as now made, will be recognized unless agreed to by the 
employers and employees. 

Learners: That there shall be one learner to every seven men or portion of seven 
men, such learner to serve for four years and to be paid as follows: For the first two 
years the learner shall receive five-eighths of the rack price, the third year six-eighths, 
and for the fourth and last year seven-eighths on one-half the racks made upon the 
machine in which the learner is placed, the difference to be equally divided between 
employer and teacher; in all eases the teacher must be an operative lace maker. 

The s} T stem of payment in the lace curtain branch is shown by 
the following example. (In this list the prices are given in pennies and 
thirty-seconds of a penny per rack. Thus on a machine 15 quarters 



28 



LACE MAKING AT NOTTINGHAM. 



(of a yard) wide, 5-point gage, the price per rack paid the lace maker 
is seen to be l is d. per rack, that is. 1 J|d., etc.): 

Standard I. — Prices for three-gate curtains. 





Quar- 
ters. 












- 












... 






5 


6 


7 


s 


9 


10 


11 


12 13 14 


15 


16 




15... 


lis 


1" 


L-- 


l- ; 


121 


1-' 


1-- 


1-" 


[29 131 


2- 


24 


1 


16... 


r- 


ia> 


l- : 


1- 


123 


1-' 


l- ; 


123 


- 5: 




-- 


05 


17... 


i-- 


1-- 


IS 


1«3 


1- 


128 


: 


1» 


■) 




-"" 


os 


IS... 


13 


1=3 


1--- 


1* 


1* 


1« 


131 


2 


->■: 


•-. 


2^ 


■~, ;; 


19... 


]S5 


l- ; 


1-s 


1» 


1-" 


1" 


o: 


2« 


->i 


I- 


2* 


Oil 


20... 


1* 


1= 


1» 


128 


128 


2 


23 


2^ 


. 


28 


212 


2'-3 


21... 


1-" 


128 


128 


l- : 


1* 


2 s 


= 


■>• 


& 


: 


0:3 


2- 5 




22 


IS 


1= 


1 


1» 


- 


2 J - 


- : 


2 s 


js 


2-- 


2» 


■-)-_- 




23... 


1* 


l 31 


2 


2 


1 


2* 


o> 


23 


2- 


_.-. 




'--- 




24... 


o 


2 


2- 


2- 


2- 


2" 


2* 


2ii 


713 


_-- 


Z" 


_. 




25 


2^ 


2' 


o; 


23 


2* 




212 


2B 


2- 




22 


2-- 




26... 


22 


23 


2^ 


2 ? 


2* 


2"-"- 


2H 


215 


2-- 


2- 


2— 


224 




27. 


2-* 


2" 


2 15 


25 


or 


2- 


2is 


213 


t:; 


_-" 


2^4 


2- 


28. . 


2? 


2« 


or 


25 


_ 


2 : - 


- l: ! 


•">:< 


2_: 


~;_ 


226 


■~>i~ 


29 1 


2 s 


2- 


2? 


2s 


- 


_ - 


2» 


2- ; 


_ : ' 


;_:. 


22C 


:-• 


30... 


or 


2^ 


2- 


2io 


2 W 


_- 


219 


2-: 


.-- 


2 s 


2-- 


OS 


31... 


- 




o;: 


2-: 




2ia 


0.1 


2- 


oa 


>l4 


228 


~ : 




32... 


I 


2ii 


2~ 


^ 


2 " 


2» 


222 


223 


954 


236 


2» 


3 




33— 


212 


213 


014 


21a 


2 


2 :: 


2-3 


2:4 


22fi 


2- 


3 


32 




34. . . 


2U 


2J5 


2« 


2M 


2 U 


222 


22= 


2-- 


>2S 


-- 


3^ 


33 


D 


35... 


2" 


2« 


2-" 


2- ; 


218 


2^ 


28! 


228 


229 


231 


3-3 


3= 




36... 


2 : " 


2M 


2B 


2* 


2a 


2» 


228 


229 


231 


3 


3 s 


3 : 




1 37 — 


;• 


2--- 


2- : 


* oa 

- 


)•;: 




O30 


- ;1 


3 | 


3- 


3" 


3- 




38... 


2 ' 


220 


2* 


- 


- 


2 3 


231 


3 


3- 


3 4 


3 s 


3* 




39... 


2-"- 


222 


222 


223 


2U 


- : 


3 1 


■:■- 


3* 


3- 


3" 


311 




40... 


22S 


2^ 


2-- 


_-" 


--' 


3 


3 s 


3-- 


3« 


3« 


3 11 


313 



All widths above 40 quarters up to and including 12 points to advance 5 2 2 d. per 
quarter and 1/32 per gage: above 12 points and up to 16 to advance 2 32 per quarter 
and 2 32 per gage. 

All curtains up to and including 8 points, when punched straight through, to be 
paid as curtain net. and above 8 points to be paid 3 32 of a penny more than curtain 
net. 

Additions to the three-gate curtain card: 1) Two-gate to be paid 7 32 of a penny 

- and four-gate 7 32 of a penny extra: 2 all unfinished goods where change of 

cards is not required be paid 7 32 of a penny less: (3 I toilets, bed covers, eider downs. 

either made with or without turn-again tackle. 3 ; 32 of a penny less than curtains: 

(4 1 all goods made with one lacing thread of I s inches or under 6 32 of a penny extra; 

above 18 inches nothing extra. Lacing threads in dressing selvages not to be paid for. 

Extras for making colors in cotton only: 1 Where one color and up to three colors 
23 32 of a penny per rack extra to be paid: where more than three colors 1^_ extra to 
be paid: (2) if colors are worked on warp or in bobbins, or both. 7 32 of a penny extra 
to be paid: (3) when working colors on less than full width to be paid in proportion to 
the number of breadths in which colors are introduced. 



OPERATIVES AND LIVING CONDITIONS. 



BETTER PAID THAX CALAIS WORKERS INCOME AXD EXPENSES 

LABOR ORGAXIZATIOX. 

The population of Nottingham in 1908 is estimated to be in the 
neighborhood of 255,000. The town is dependent on the lace and 
hosiery trades, and to a large extent the fluctuations of population 
are a measure of the prosperity of these trades. In 1831, on the 
expiration of the patent rights on Heathcote's lace machine, there 
was a sudden increase in lace manufacturing and a great influx of 
workers to take part in the rapidly expanding business. This 
growth and attendant prosperity lasted until the American civil 
war, when there was a depression that extended over some dozen 
years. There was then renewed prosperity to 1883, when another de- 
pression set in. From this the industry gradually recovered and 
was put on a larger and more stable basis, but it is now hardly 
holding its own, for the tariff barriers in foreign countries and the 
steadily increasing French industry tend to prevent any great 
expansion. 

The French, with their more artistic, cheaper, and almost as 
efficient workers, have taken the lead in the production of fancy laces 
and will possibly, in time, also in that of net, though in both net and 
curtains the English industry is still the largest. On account of 
lower taxes and less union restrictions in the country and suburbs, 
the lace factories now show a strong tendency to move outside of 
Nottingham. Thus the union, for instance, attempts to limit the 
length of the machines to be worked and these are so strong in 
Nottingham that they can control, while outside their power is 
weaker, so that most of the newer long machines are now installed 
at Long Eaton and other places farther removed from the power of 
the cental union. 

PROPORTION OF LACE WORKERS. 

In Nottingham the proportion of females is higher than in the 
population of the country as a whole, there being 114.6 to 100 males, 
while the population of England and Wales, as a whole, shows 106.7 
females to 100 males. The large number of women employed in the 
lace and hosiery trades probably attracts women from the other towns, 
for the larger proportion of the female population are workers. 
The census of 1901, for instance, showed that of 27,819 females in 
Nottingham between 15 and 25 there were 21,566 engaged in some 
occupation, 7,942 being in the lace and hosiery trades alone. The 
percentage of wives and widows working was 24.1 per cent, which 
is an unusually large proportion. 

Of the total population of the town in 1901 there were 14,701 
women and 6,925 men returned as engaged in lace manufacturing, 
but this did not include many engaged in allied trades, such as 
dyeing, etc., which do work for both the lace and outside trades. 

29 



30 LACE MAKING AT NOTTINGHAM. 

At least two-thirds of the workers in lace factories in Nottingham 
are women, whereas in Calais it is estimated that less than one-half 
are women. In both cases the twist hands are always men, which is 
partly due to the fact that in normal times the factories work night 
and day, and in both countries women are forbidden to work at 
night. 

Both at Calais and at Nottingham there is a large industry carried 
on at home in cutting apart the lace, clipping off floating threads, 
etc., but this is much smaller at Nottingham than at Calais. The 
Nottingham work is more factory work, for most of the net and cur- 
tains made need little or none of this work, and even on the fancy 
lace the manufacturers are not able to find the same class as the 
skillful French home workers to which to trust the material, and 
hence do much of it in the factory. 

The lace factories of Nottingham are now running short time, 
owing to the financial state of the world, but in ordinary times they 
run 20 hours a day, as do the French. In France, however, the two 
shifts seem ordinarily to work alternatively four and six hours and 
six and four hours, while the two English shifts work alternately 
five hours regularly, but there is no uniformity about this, and some 
work one method and some the other. In both countries the fac- 
tories in normal times run one hundred and twenty hours a week, 
starting at 4 a. m. and stopping at midnight, though in very flush 
times some work twenty-four hours a day. 

COMPARISON OF CONDITIONS. 

To compare the actual condition of the Nottingham lace workers 
with the Calais lace workers is rather difficult, owing to the fact that 
the two bodies of workers live differently and their requirements 
are different. In normal times there are fewer unemployed at Calais 
than at Nottingham, and the operatives seem to enjoy life just as 
much, but if they be compared on the same scale of living the English 
operative is much better off. In general it seems to be correct to 
say that the Nottingham workers get nearly a fifth more wages than 
the Calais workers, while their food and clothes of the same quality 
will be found cheaper at Nottingham than at Calais. The English 
operatives indulge in meat frequently, the French very rarely. 
Highly skilled twist hands, "tullistes" they are called at Calais, 
will get fully as high wages at Calais as at Nottingham, while very 
skilled designers seem to get even better wages, which is evidenced 
by the fact that some of the best designers at Calais are English, 
but on the whole the workers do not have as large a margin between 
wages and the necessary costs of living at Calais as at Nottingham. 

In regard to wages, taking the two extremes, the twist hands and 
the bobbin fillers, we find that the ordinary first-class French twist 
hand operating a Levers lace machine will make about 50 francs 
($9.65) a week and the similar English twist hand about 50 shillings 
($12.16). The French boy for running the threads into the bobbins 
is paid 50 centimes (9.65 cents) a thousand and the English boy 
6Jd. (13 cents) a thousand. These two examples seem to show the 
difference in level of the wages though in certain of the subordinate 
occupations there does not seem to be much difference. 



operatives Ajsm uytsg stditioijs. 31 

-T OF LIVTX - 

In regard t o cost of food stuffs the follow _ : list of az (del - thai 
I personally priced in the tw i wns . - st res :ronized by the 
operatives, both being given in cents per pound. 





Articles. 


::.if. 


'-■-- - 




_-::::1t- 


Calais. 


"~ -'." . 






3.25 i 


u 

. 8 




— 


6. 14 

\r :•: 



5.50 


5.00 


x I : -T 




. . . 17 : . 

'. " 


• ■: 



It is seen that in most instances the S rtinghani oj has 

the advantag I i : ind with his smaller _ g the 

is operative is compelled : offset this by sating less : meat and 
mor- *etables. Beef, eU is sold in Fi y the kilo and in 

Englan 1 by the pound. Brea is - 1 1 in Englan 1 y the 4-pound loaf 
and Tinghani a I ..: . sts -- _ ~ ", with : _ it " L 

(10 cents). In Dundee, where : If sts higher than in any other in- 
dustrial town in Great Britain, s im ilar loaves sost .. 12 snts 
Potatoes, flour, etc.. ire sold in Nottingham by the half-stone : 

nnds. The French operative pays the high price of -i fran . - 
kik> 35 cents a pound for coffee, and the English a ■;:: vc 
cents a pound for tea. The kerosene :i~ used at Calais sosts 
centimes a hter (5.8 cents a quart while the parafhne oil larg 
used at Nottingham sts 16 cents a quart. Coal is cheaper in 
N btingham than in most parts of England, - Ding th hun- 

dredweight at Sid. to lOd. 17 to 20 cents . while in lais th 
price is over twice as high. 

HOUSING PERATIVES. 

In to housing conditions at N ttingham they i the 

who] good. The poorer-] ives - -dally those who 

hve near the older and more is of 

led and in unsanitary quarters, but the twist hands 

se who hve in the newer suburbs, have very pleasant homes. It 
may be noted that the English textile operative refuses 
flats, such as are univers Sax ay and in many other parts 

the continent, but always wants a home with a front door of his 
own. i T ae who has ever been in England it is uni 

mention that buildings are alw ~ - ame 

dwelling anywhere in England is almost a cu Dund 

one of the few textile towns Britain where the tenement- 

house system flourish - 

.1 type ses re three-room ' 

back" and five-room "through" houses. The old back-to-' 
houses have no rear entrance, and the front door usual. - into 

the kitchen or livini: room, whence a stairway lea - 
on the upper fl« being threi si ies in all. The "throuj 

- - have a back entrance. The "back- ' type 

rts of the city, and is usually unsani- 
tary and inconveniently arranged. 



82 



A.1'1. 



The newer types of houses for workers at Nottingham, especially 
those in the newer sections of the towns and the suburbs, are alw 
built in what is called the 'terrace"* style. Instead of blocks with 
houses facing the street froni all four sides of the square there are 




. . ' '"_:_- — '. - — - ' " L : : : 



L : - i_ '■'£. -. : ; 



paved alleyway between eac 
side of the two rows. These rows of houses usuallv have no front 



bove the other. Usually there 
vo rows with streets on each 




yard, but at the back there is usually a fair sized space, which is 
sometimes divided off for each house and sometimes used in common. 
Figm wb :he front of a typical row of a 'terrace." this pic- 

ture being taken of houses occupied by "twist hands"" working in a 



OPERATIVES AND LIVING CONDITIONS. 33 

neighboring lace mill. In some cases there is now left a 10-foot 
space in front of the houses for a front yard, and in such cases they 
are often filled with flowers by the wives of the lace makers. 

These newer types of houses are either three, four, or five room. 
Figure 8 shows the four-room type built in two stories with narrow 
front containing a parlor or living room and a kitchen on the first 
floor and two bedrooms upstairs. A small scullery is sometimes but 
not invariably built out from the kitchen. Figure 7, which gives a 
view of a typical Nottingham lace factory, also shows a rear view of 
the typical five-room "terraced" houses. These are becoming the 
predominant type of the new dwellings, and are made with parlor 
and kitchen on the first floor, two bedrooms on the second, and an 
attic above. Here again the front door opens directly into the parlor, 
and there is usually a small scullery behind the kitchen and a small 
inclosed back yard. 

Six-room houses are rarely occupied by workers except such higher 
paid men as foremen and clerks. Detached houses are extremely 
rare as the houses are all built end to end in terraces. 

RENTS AND TAXATION. 

The predominant range of weekly rents for the different size houses 
are as follows: 



Number of rooms. 


Rents. 




SO. 85 to SI. 15 




1. 10 to 1. 28 




1.22 to 1.70 




1. 58 to 2. 30 







It is seen that the average rent per room per week is about 35 
cents. As a rule, the operatives are not very crowded. 

At Nottingham the town owns much property, and the rent from 
these are used to reduce the rates of taxation. The town also owns 
most of its public utilities, such as the water supply, drainage works, 
gas and electric supply, baths, cemeteries, extensive markets, hos- 
pitals, a lunatic asylum, etc., and has mam' parks and breathing 
spaces. In sewerage works the town is very deficient, as these have 
been extended to but a small portion of the incorporated limits, 
and this fact is stated by a recent report of the medical authorities 
to be one of the main causes of much of the sickness. The use of gas 
is extending, and is now installed in most of the newer type of work- 
men.^' dwellings. An automatic '"penny-in-the-slot " meter is used 
in such cases. 

LABOR UNIONS. 

The higher-paid workers in the Nottingham lace factories — such 
as the twist hands or ''lace makers' 1 — are very strongly organized, 
and as the independence and jealousy of the manufacturers prevent 
their having any similar alliance except temporarily, the unions 
usually dominate the situation. 

The secretary of the ''Amalgamated Society of Operative Lace- 
makers" states that there are 2,000 twist hands in the Levers branch 



34 LA.CE MAKING AT S TTINGHAM. 

in his "union and 550 twist hands of the plain net branch, with smaller 
numbers engaged in the curtain branch, and thai at f the 

twist hands >f Nottingham 1 \ _ this eg oization. The poorer 
paid workers, consisting I .:_■ ly : women, are not so strongly rg 
This tmion be] ngs to the International Federation :: 1 
Makers, and is the wealthiest branch, but. owing : s me linerences 

me ::.._ this yeai ■:.: aJais, they have temporarily withdrawn. 

income of this union, including their branches at Beesl 
Ilkeston. Long Eaton 7': ay fc1 and Sandiacre : r the Tali year 
ending June 1 )8 mounted to £C 68-12 132,452), and their 

surplus cash in bank at this time was given as £10,071 149,010). 
Tl is uni o ays its superannuated inem" :- : which there is d 

on the list, 85 cents each a week, and they also pay either in 
whole or in pan. in special cases, for sending their members to sana- 
t riums tv s sat h mes Bf ::: lispensary charges, etc.. and 

alsc allow >nt-of-work pay. Just at the present time, owing to the 
depressed conditi d : the trade, this latter amounts to a large sum. 



CONSULAR REPORT 
HOWE WORK IN THE NOTTINGHAM LACE INDUSTRY. 

nsul Frank W. Mahin, of Nottingham, sen Is the following 

n the investigation by the British Government into the 
- . d : home work in the lace industry: 
An mquiry by Parliament into home work — i. e.. work on articles 
:_ m factories, etc.. by women and done by them and 
their children at home — has recently been held, with a view i 

ssihle law to better the condition of the workers and to € nrect 

abuses. Much evidence was given by expert witnesses. The lace 

industry - s oe of the subjects investigated. According to the 

-nee. 7.7 I b me workers in N ttingham are engag I n laces — 

clipping 3C iag and Irawmg out superfluous threads. The work 

- :hem through middle women, who receive a commission of 
Lt 25 pei at of the ... sati . we >y the manufacturers 

for the " i taking the laces to and returning them from the 

horn- w rk rs These middle women are considered a necessity 
they save tim th workers and employers, and are i - 

mpetent w rkers in wholesome surroundi::_~ 
mage to g Is and poor service. They are sometimes charg 
with retaining ■.-::: rti d mmissi ds lit this is pai otly n : 

well : 

The home work evidently induces household and personal cleanli- 
ness, which is usually a d .- at I receiving work. 
Charg - : sw ting by the manufacturers, though un- 
deniably the wages] id tl = small. They m2 
■ 8 : varying with tl lass : lace and the rapid:' 
the - : kers make their living from this emp] 

- jems that the most ^ek. 

ever, are women wl work in spare moments. 

ssisted by their children I ter £ b urs. In many 

• omen have hus Log in other ways enough to 



OPERATIVES AXD LrVCVG CONDITIO" S. 

support the family, when the women's earnings are only supplenien- 
tary. This is erase of the low wages paid for the home work A 

us objection made to home work is that it detracts from the 
diligence of some husbands. 

Allegation- :: ssive use of child labor in home work are often 

made, but these are denied by the manufacturers and by investiga: 
It is admitted that child labor is employed to an unusual extent in 
N ::inghani. but this is due to the character of the work, which a 
child can do easily. 

An important question considered by the parliamentary com- 
mittee was whether or not it would promote cleanliness and prevent 
abuses if _ mnient license for home work were required, neces- 
sarily preceded by approval of the proposed licensee. Expert evi- 
dence generally was to the effect that it would be impracticable, j i 
needlessly restrictive and burdensome, and be detrimental to home 
workers, as employers would tire of the continual inspections and 
r giving out work. Workers themselves take a similar view, 
evidently believing they would fare better, on the whole, with oi 
government intervention: 

:al newspapers have interviewed manufacturers, middle wo:: 
and home workers Dis i .ant opinions were given. But a broad 
general view of the subject apj :> rs induce the belief that home 
work, as conducted at Nottingham in the lace trade, is to the int 
of both employer and employed, and that it would be hurt more than 
helped by government intervention. 



LACE MAKING AT CALAIS 



DEVELOPMENT OF LACE MAKING. 



EARLY BECAME CENTERED AT CALAIS GREATLY AIDED BY THE 

JACQUARD ATTACHMENT . 

In the production of fancy - wrorld, and great 

fortunes have been made here in manufacturing Is : American 

it has i I in the last ten 

nd men whc rking as machinists or "tullisi - five 

or ten years ag nts worth millions F francs 

trade is steadily incre sing, which means that the United States is 
buying increased quantiti 3 thi -fourths . is export 

is taken by this one country. 

Lace is made at (_ ry, St. Quentin. Lyon. Lille, and St. 

diamond, but Calais and Caudry are the two main centers, both in 
the Department of Pas- - 

The official figures for the export of cotton manufactures from 
7 show I 1,872,739 pounds of machine-made lace 
a value : 16.73 a pound. Ther - ;- Is sh 

12,87 t tulle and $578 3 14 worth of tulle curtains I tton, 

sides i I of silk laces. These are tl gmres for the di 

rt, and do not include the \ I all kinds 

-ach 
the Unit Si tes without being recorded by the customs. The 

q the lace mac:.: - : France may 

— rvatively estimated at $25,000,000 a year. A French 

rtimal - die lace pi - rict alone at 

between 1 I and 1_ francs in g rs. The 

bulk of the lace Ftei the United States has finished her 

buying goes to Great Britain and Germany, with smaller amounts 

- <>ther section of the globe. 

HISTORY OF THE INDUSTRY. 

This important I lace making when it 

a England. Bel I time i 

machine-made la manufacture. Th . ;h had many 

ang - bines — based on the princi 

frame— and re its marc: 

hibited the importati £ English articles. This 

made machine net and hand-made la 

time the El_ - 1 invented a machi make b mbinet that 

E 

jlish and French that the first factory to start - 
machines in I would make big profits, bur • Eng Ish manu- 

facturers wanted no competitor. They desired to preserve the 
ly of the machines and machine-mad - tnat they had 

developed, and long existing acts of Parliament had prohibit 

39 



40 LACE MAKING AT CALAIS. 

export of machinery of various kinds. That of William III, of 1695, 
fined exporters of knitting machines £200 and punished them with 
twelve months' imprisonment, and this was extended in 1718 to all 
other kinds of machinery used in the manufacture of silk, cotton, 
and linen manufactures, adding a penalty of £500 on persons indu- 
cing artificers to leave the Kingdom. These acts were confirmed 
during the next sixty-six years, and in 1785 further extended to 
include engines, tools, and utensils used in constructing machines, 
and anyone exporting such machinery was further punished with 
deportation. 

After the Napoleonic wars these laws were relaxed so that ma- 
chinery could be exported on special permit, and in 1825 that part 
which prohibited emigration of skilled workers was repealed, but it 
was as late as 1841 before the laws forbidding machinery exporta- 
tion were finally annulled. In 1816 the first lace machines were 
smuggled into France by dismantling the separate parts and mixing 
with a lot of old iron, and workers were also smuggled across the 
Channel. Cutts, at Douai, and James Clark, at Calais, both claim 
the credit of starting the first lace machine in France. 

PRESENT LOCATION AND IMPORTANCE. 

The industry gradually prospered and became centered at the 
town of Calais, but in 1832 the citizens objected so strongly to hav- 
ing their rest at night broken by the clack of the machines that the 
municipality forbade night work, and the factories gradually drifted 
to the suburb of St. Pierre-de-Calais, where it has remained ever 
since, though later developing large subcenters at Caudry and else- 
where. The French at that time made no high-grade yarn, and this 
was smuggled in from England in spite of the laws. In 1834 the 
prohibition against importing English cottons was raised, but the 
customs were strengthened and a high duty imposed, so that the 
result was to paralyze the industry. 

About this time came the application of the Jacquard to the lace 
machine, which aided the industry by raising the price of the article 
and extending its range, so that after a period of depression lace 
making recovered and has steadily increased ever since. In 1850 
the industry was almost wholly at St. Pierre and comprised 428 
machines. In 1870 there were 939, and in 1908 there are now in 
and around Calais 2,615. 

SOME GRIEVANCES OF THE MANUFACTURERS. 

In 1892 France passed a new tariff raising the duty on cotton 
yarn. This was bitterly opposed by the Calais manufacturers, as 
they wanted yarn free, and stated that if they could get the superior 
English yarn free of duty they could also stand all competition due 
to lace coming in free of duty. Nottingham and Calais manufac- 
turers have always consistently fought for free exchange of com- 
modities required in their business. The law was made in the 
interests of the yarn mills at Lille and Tourcoing, and since then 
these mills have been able to extend their range of numbers until 
they make a good portion of the fine yarns required, though much 
is still obtained from England. 



DEVELOPMENT OF LACE MAKING. 41 

To aid the Calais manufacturers in meeting the increased cost of 
their materials, the French Chamber granted a special rebate of the 
duty supposedly paid on yarn contained in the laces exported, and 
in some cases the waste and cutting was also counted for 25 per 
cent. This was intended to aid the manufacturers, but they claim 
never to have received any benefit from it, as it is the buyers and 
commission houses who obtain the drawback, and in fact some of 
the buying houses pay the expenses of keeping up branch establish- 
ments at Calais out of the rebates thus granted on materials exported. 

The Calais manufacturers also strongly opposed the proposed law 
restricting, the hours of work of women and children to ten and for- 
bidding them night work. The result, however, has been to benefit 
the trade in some particulars since its passage in 1892, for as tulle 
and lace machines run night and day with shifts, it practically con- 
fined the actual machine running to men over 18, and the boys were 
thus forced to work an apprenticeship in other lines of the work before 
taking charge of a machine, which made them when they finally 
graduated into work as full-fledged "tullistes" much more efficient. 
This restriction and the high duty are still held as burning grievances 
by many of the manufacturers. 

GROWTH OF INDUSTRY. 

The rapid progress of the Calais industry in recent years, as shown 
bv figures furnished by the manufacturers' association, is as follows: 





Description. 


1905. 


190:;. 


1907. 


1908. 






365 


365 
2,227 


500 
2,367 


584 






1 . 867 


2,615 





The number of tullistes at Calais is now given as 7,700, and the total 
of factory workers of all kinds as 31,600, but this does not include the 
outside workers engaged in clipping, etc., which it is estimated would 
swell the total to two or three times this number. 

The Calais lace industry pays its skilled labor higher than do most 
other industries in France and so obtains the best. The employers 
who are themselves in large part old workmen from all branches of the 
profession, are inventive and shrewd. Since the inception of the 
industry in 1816 the Calais manufacturers have rivaled Nottingham 
in the number of their inventions and adaptations, and, in fact, while 
the bobbinet machine is an English invention, the lace machine is a 
French invention, .for it was only by the ingenious combination of the 
Jacquard with the bobbinet machine in France in 1834 that there was 
enabled to be produced the present machine-made imitations of genu- 
ine hand lace. 

The superior taste of the French and their adaptiveness lias 
developed the fancy lace side of the industry until now they surpass 
Nottingham, which has developed on their side more of the less artis- 
tic net and lace curtain part of the industry. Calais makes mainly nar- 
row laces for the ornamentation of the costumes, coiffures, and cloth- 
ing of the feminine sex, their perfection being most marked in such 
specialties as Valenciennes, Malines, and Chantilly. Large quantities 
of this lace is sold to the great stores and dressmakers of Paris, but 
the bulk is sold to commission houses, to whom the manufacturers 



42 LACE MAKING AT CALAIS. 

give varying rates of discount. There are usually three or four dis- 
counts, and among the buyers the talk is always as to who is getting 
the most discounts. 

SKILLED LABOR COMMANDS HIGH PAY. 

The French tullistes are a skilled set of workmen and they have 
energy and perseverance^ are economical, and usually contented. 
They are independent, however, and hard to manage by one not accus- 
tomed to their ways of looking at things. They live well and a sight 
of the streets on Sunday afternoons show that they and their families 
can dress well. The French worker takes his family with him every- 
where and they share their pleasures together. The workers at 
Calais, due to the higher wages paid the skilled^ classes, have more 
social enjoyments than usual among the working classes; they have 
numerous singing societies, bands, etc., and get up balls and fetes. 
They also have fraternal and mutual benefit associations. 

The designers, tullistes, machinists, and similar skilled men get 
good wages at Calais, but the less skilled workers have to be content 
with very little. Where a tulliste will make from 10 to 20 francs a 
day, the less skilled factory workers and the cutters will do well to get 
from 1 to 3 francs a day. Though the skilled classes live well, the 
poorer have to be very economical and to live on little meat, for Calais 
is one of the highest-priced food centers of Europe. 

At Calais the employers and employees are both strongly organ- 
ized. There are three employers' organizations, namely, L'Asso- 
ciation des Usiniers Louers de Force Motrice, founded in 1895; La 
Chambre Syndicale des Fabricants de Tulles et Dentelles, founded 
in 1883, and comprising the principal manufacturers; and L'Asso- 
ciation des Fabricants de Tulles et Dentelles de Calais, founded in 
1900 at the end of the great strike. The last-named association 
embraces most of the manufacturers and is the most important. 

The manufacturers publish a " Bulletin Mensuel " of 8 pages, in which 
they give news of the trade at Calais, Caudry, Plauen, and Notting- 
ham, and statements of the conditioning tests. 

CONDITIONING HALLS LABOR UNIONS. 

The Chamber of Commerce at Calais maintains an official " Condi- 
tion publique des soies, des laines et des cotons." The strength, 
weight, and length of fine cotton and silk yarns such as are used in 
the lace industry will vary according to the atmosphere, and to get 
best results they should be maintained and be manufactured at a 
normal temperature and contain their normal amount of moisture. 
Condition halls for this purpose were established at Turin in 1750, 
and later at Lyon, St. Etienne, St. Chamond, and finally at Calais, 
the latter being made an official work and placed in charge of the 
Chamber of Commerce by the French Government in 1886. The 
operations of the condition house consist in storing materials for the 
manufacturers at a fixed temperature so as to preserve them in best 
conditions of humidity, etc., testing for number, weight, twist, per- 
centage moisture, etc. This public conditioning house is very useful 
to the trade. 

On the side of the employees there are two main organizations: 
L' Emancipation, which has its headquarters at the Bourse du Travail, 



DEVELOPMENT OF LACE MAKING. 43 

founded in 1900 and having about 1.500 members: and L'Union 
Franeaise des Ouvriers Tullistes. a syndicate independent of the 
Bourse, founded in 1888, and having about 1.700 members. This 
union is the most active and also conducts a cooperative agency 
with some succe->. 

Exceptional high-ela^s tullistes and designers at Calais get fully as 
much as they would at Nottingham, if not more, but in general it 
appears that the skilled workers at Calais average about one-fifth 
less than similar workers at Nottingham and the unskilled workers 
average much less — this in spite of the fact that food is higher priced 
at Calais than at Nottingham. Many of the Calais manufacturers 
are English or of English descent and of the higher class of workers. 
especially the designers, draftsmen, and quite a few of the tullistes 
have come from England. 

VARIATIONS IX THE TRADE. 

Just at present (August. 1908) the Calais industry is undergoing a 
period of stress due to the slackness of orders from their main cus- 
tomer — America — and all-night work has been stopped and even 
the day work has been much curtailed. During the last three or 
four years the Calais manufacturers have been doing a prosperous 
business, so that most of them are now in shape to withstand a little 
adversity. Fancy laces being a thing that depends entirely on the 
vagaries of fashion as to whether there shall be a dead loss or a tre- 
mendous profit, the manufacturers are now faced with the alternative 
of closing down or of running into speculation by rilling their ware- 
houses with stocks of high-priced articles, which at the turn of the 
market may make them either millionaires or paupers according as 
to how their designs take. Two or three at least of the larger houses 
are thus trying their luck, but the great majority are running as few 
machines as they possibly can without disorganizing their force and 
losing valuable workmen. 

In spite of the huge profits in the laee industry in good years the 
fact that it is an industry in which there has to be continual changing 
to catch every passing whim of the popular fancy makes it difficult 
to transplant, for to conduct the business successfully takes men 
long skilled in the art of anticipating what the world of fashion will 
require in one of its main luxuries. Fancy lace making is, however, 
getting a good start in America, where curtain manufacturing is 
already firmly established, and in time the United States will cer- 
tainly save for her own workers the millions that are now annually 
sent across the Atlantic 

Mr. Ilenon. one of the largest manufacturers of Calais, vouched" 
for the fact that many of his tullistes were making hundreds of francs 
a week during the Hush times, and that he has one man who at that 
time was making 2.000 francs a week. Now, 2,000 francs a week is 
-SI ,o44 a month, and it would seem that any industry that can afford 
to pay such wages to a machine runner — even to an exceptional man 
in an exceptional time — is one that can be successfully organized in 
the United State-. The first cost of the American enterprise, of 
course, will be higher than the first cost of a similar French enterprise, 
part of which would be incurred for customs duty on lace machine- 
imported. This expense, however, would be modified or entirely 
removed by building lace machines in the United States. 



LACE MACHINE AND LACE FACTORY. 



DIFFERENT TYPES OF MECHANISMS SPECIALLY PLANNED MILL BUILD- 
INGS ARE NEEDED. 

The lace machine is one of the most complicated and delicately 
adjusted machines made and is ranked among the highest if not 
absolutely the highest triumph of the mechanical genius of man. 

Lace machines may be classed under four heads, (1) the band 
circular or plain net machine, (2) the lace curtain machine, (3) the 
warp lace machine, and (4) the Levers machine. The latter includes 
the " Levers machine," properly so called, with lean bars, and the 
" Levers go through" without lean bars, the latter being a more 
recent improvement and one that enables the machine to be run 
faster and to give a larger production, except for very complicated 
work. The lace machines in use at Calais are mainl} 7 of the last t}^pe. 
The standard machines are considered to be those of John Jardine 
of Nottingham and Jules Quillet of Calais. The present price of the 
172 inch, 12 point Quillet, is given as 33,000 francs (franc=19.3 
cents). 

The lace machine is complex, but the basic principle underlying its 
operation is much simpler than it would appear to be on first sight. 
The weft threads are wound on round flat bobbins which are placed in 
thin steel shuttles or chariots and these swing back and forth through 
a vertical warp like the pendulums of clocks, each being guided by 
a groove. The vertical warp threads, which run up between the 
thin shuttles, are controlled by bars from a Jacquard and are pulled 
first to one side and then to the other of the straight-swinging shuttles 
and their crossings, which are made alternately around weft threads 
to their right and left with the warp threads on their right and left, 
and are pushed up into place by means of the needles of point bars. 
If the warp threads make their crossings alternately with those on 
their right and left it can be seen that there will be formed net work. 
To carry out this simple principle and to introduce variations much 
skillfully designed machinery is necessary. 

NARROW LACE MAKING. 

In figure 9 is given a front and side section of the ordinary lace 
machine as used to make the narrow Calais laces. In this sketch is 
shown sufficient details to give a corrcet idea of the method of operation. 

The warp threads represented by a and a', shown wound on small 
warp beams A and A' placed under the machine, pass up through the 
holes in a perforated guide board LL, through various pierced 
Jacquard bars represented by KK, and then up to the lace beam D 
on which the finished lace is taken up as made by means of an auto- 
matically operated ratchet wheel. The weft is shown passing from 
the bobbin c in the chariot B up to the point where the lace is formed 
by the twists made by the weft swinging back and forth through 

44 



LACE MACHINE AND LACE FACTOKY. 



45 



the shifting mazes of the vertical warp. M and N represent the 
swinging rows of "points," one for each mesh in the length of the 
machine, that push up into place the meshes as formed. H and H' 




represent the two long comb bars, one in front and one in rear, thai 
are grooved to receive the thin steel chariots. In lace machines 
proper these are stationary, while in net machines they can be shifted 
to one side or the other as desired. The distance between the two 



46 LACE MAKING AT CALAIS. 

comb bars is usually only 1| inches, as it has to be such that the chariot 
enters the groove on one side before leaving that on the other but in 
the figure as sketched this space is drawn wider so as to better illus- 
trate the arrangement of the warp. F and F' represent the swinging 
catch bars which alternately draw the chariot to the front or rear 
and then releases as the other catch bar takes hold to draw the 
chariot through the warp on its return trip. Large roller G carries 
the ground warp, the outline and guimp warp threads being carried 
by the small rollers A and A'. In the finished lace, as shown on the 
lace beam, the ground threads are represented by Z, the "brodeurs" 
or threads that outline the patterns are shown by X, and the guimp 
threads that are used to fill in the patterns so drawn are shown by Y. 

OPERATION OF BARS. 

It is seen that ordinarily in a piece of Calais lace there are four 
kinds of threads — the weft or bobbin threads, the ground warp threads, 
the outline threads, and the guimp threads. Each thread in each of 
the three warps has to be controlled by a separate pierced bar from 
the Jacquard unless in its work in the strip of lace it exactly dupli- 
cates the work of some other thread. For the ground warp using 
two threads to the mesh there will be a repeat every four threads so 
that there is needed only four bars. For some varieties there are 
used eight ground bars. According as there are two or four threads to 
the mesh there will be 7,200 or 14,400 ground threads for the 12 
point, 150-inch machine. For the outline and guimp threads there 
is usually required a bar for each. To make tulle or to obtain par- 
ticular ground effects the warn has to be passed through fine bars 
which are themselves placed in stump bars so that each system 
works independently of the other. 

The Jacquard bars, shown at KK in figure 1, are crowded very 
close together and are made of very thin steel, there being sometimes 
over 100 to an inch. They are pierced at intervals for the passage of 
the thread. In a machine making 150 strips of lace at a time a guimp 
bar will have 150 holes, as the same thread will do the same work 
in each strip. The sketch shows something of the method of control 
by the Jacquard at the right-hand end of the machine, each bar being 
attached to the Jacquard at one end and to a spring at the other. 
The adaptation of the Jacquard thus used is known as the Martyn 
spring Jacquard, and usually there is employed a small Jacquard for 
the top bars and a separate double Jacquard for the bottom or ground 
bars. The droppers operate according to the design of the holes 
punched in the Jacquard cards, moving each pierced bar and its 
attached warp thread to the right or left as the design requires, but 
its action bemg similar to that of an ordinary loom Jacquard it is 
not necessary to amplify this. The ground threads are only moved 
a short distance and the outline threads themselves rarely go over 
ten gaits from their normal position, a "gait" being the distance 
between two parallel bobbin threads. 

LARGE NUMBER OF THREADS. 

In regard to the number of threads employed at one time on a 
lace machine this may vary considerably, but is usually between 
12,000 and 30,000. In a strip of lace 12 centimeters wide being 



LACE MACHINE AND LACE FACTORY. 47 

made on a 12-point, 150-inch machine, the least number of threads 
that could be used would be: Bobbin threads 144, ground warp 
threads 288, outline threads 45, guimp threads 45, a total of 522 for 
each strip of lace. As there would be 30 bands (150 inches is 3.75 
meters) there would be a total of 15,660 threads. Some complicated 
designs take up to 25,000 or 30,000 threads. In the foregoing design 
there would be needed 4 bars for the ground, 45 bars for the outline 
threads, and 45 for the guimp threads, or 94 bars altogether. The 
number of bars in very fancy designs will run as high as 250. 

As shown in the front section of figure 1 the bobbins slide in grooves 
cut in the comb bars, the distance side wise from center to center of 
neighboring bobbins being known as a " gait." A " plomb de combs," 
as it is called in French, or set of combs, is the number of grooves 
and hence of bobbins in a space of 2 inches. This basis of measure- 
ment originally comes from the knitting machine, which was the 
progenitor of the lace machine. Lace machines are designated by 
" points," which now refer to the bobbins instead of the point bars, 
and by "point" is meant one-half the number of bobbins to the 
inch, or one-fourth the number of bobbins to the basic measurement 
of 2 inches. In a 12-point machine, therefore, there are 24 bobbins to 
the inch, or 48 bobbins to the "plomb de comb." In a 160-inch 
machine, 12 point, there will be 3,840 separate chariots with their 
bobbins swinging back and forth together m an unbroken line. Ma- 
chines are usually made 9, 9 J, 10, 12, 14, 15, or 16 point, but some 
run as coarse as 5 point and .some as fine as 18 point. In the latter 
case there will be 36 shuttles in every inch of width of the machine, 
which maybe 180 or more inches long, so it is seen that there has to 
be very nice adjustments, precision in form and finish of the gearing, 
and perfect solidity and rigidity of framework, so that the thousands 
of combs, points, guides, pierced guide bars, carriages and bobbins, 
etc., may work in exact harmony with each other and in obedience 
to the pattern laid on the Jacquard. The lace machine is also 
designated by gage which is the number of chariots contained in 2 
inches. A lace machine of 12 points, therefore, has at the same time 
a -gage of 48, the 16 point has a gage of 64, etc. 

CONSTRUCTION OF BUILDINGS. 

The Calais lace factories offer certain peculiarities worthy of note. 
Lace making being an art in which the operator requires perfect light, 
the factories are usually built around an open quadrangle in the mid- 
dle. Good light and air is insured by large bays opening on both the 
outside and on the quadrangle. 

The buildings are mostly four stories high and the lace machines 
are usually on the second and third floors, the first and fourth floors 
being used for the preparation rooms and the bureau. The rooms for 
repairing, folding, finishing, the sales room, storage and shipping 
room, bookkeeping office, etc., are collectively termed by the manufac- 
turers the "bureau." The designing, drafting, and card-punching 
rooms are usually on the second floor, but separated from the ma- 
chine rooms. 

Access to the different floors is from the quadrangle by means of 
spiral iron staircases in turrets. These turrets communicate at each 



48 LACE MAKING AT CALAIS. 

floor with iron balconies on which open the doors of the different 
workrooms. There are usually no interior staircases and the isola- 
tion of the different workrooms is thus complete, which is not only a 
source of safety in case of fire, but also tends to confine the secret of 
the operations in each room to the particular workers there employed, 
and thus prevent details of new designs leaking out to be made use of 
by their rivals. 

The engine and boiler rooms are in a separate structure placed in 
the center of the quadrangle. Rope driving is universal. Electric 
driving is as yet very rare and it is only recently that electric lighting 
has come into general use. Heating is by means of flanged steam 
pipes placed along the wall near the floor. 

All the large manufacturers have their own buildings. In many 
other cases the owner of the building rents the premises to one or 
more manufacturers and sometimes contracts also to furnish power, 
heat, and light. In some of these large factory buildings there will 
be as many as a dozen small manufacturers each operating a few 
machines or else confining himself to some specialty, such as spooling 
and warping, etc. Small manufacturers find it cheaper to rent the 
required space in a large factory building where they can get their 
needs supplied close at hand than to put up separate smaller buildings 
of their own. The figures furnished me by the manufacturers asso- 
ciation for March 1, 1908, showed 584 manufacturers for 2,615 ma- 
chines. It is apparent that while some of these are engaged on 
special lines of manufacture there must be a large number of small 
manufacturers owning one to ten machines. 

FOUR DEPARTMENTS IMPORTANCE OF DESIGNING. 

There are four divisions of the operation of the lace factory, (1) the 
designing, (2) the preparation of the materials, (3) the lace making, 
and (4) the finishing and cutting out. 

The designing is the most important part of lace making, for with- 
out a good design lace is useless rubbish, as it will be unsalable. 
The designer is therefore the mainstay of the establishment and on 
him depends in large measure the success or failure of the firm. The 
designer usually gets the highest salary and is engaged by the year, 
and frequently is under contract for five years or more. The large 
factories have their own designers, while the smaller ones very often 
obtain their designs from outside professional designers. Public 
designers sell ordinary designs at the rate of 1 franc per centimeter of 
width, thus a design 10 centimeters in width sells for 10 francs, etc., 
though fancy designs bring fancy prices. The designer should be a 
practical worker, but this is not always the case, for his work being 
more artistic than mechanical designs are often sketched out that the 
factory is not able to fabricate at all or else not at a cost that will afford 
them a profit. 

Sometimes a designer will w T ork for a year on one design. The de- 
signers have to be continually on the alert to satisfy the fanciful 
demands of the mode. Sometimes very light articles are in favor and 
at other times coarse articles, sometimes one special style and some- 
times another; hence the designer has to keep in touch with the mar- 
ket requirements in order not to load the shelves of his factory with 
unsalable articles. The great races at Longchamps and Auteuil in 



LACE MACHINE AKD LACE FACTOKY. 49 

the spring are the places where the designers get their first idea, from 
the costumes there worn by the Paris women, as to what is going to 
be the prevailing mode of the season. The designer forms his opin- 
ion and essays to create a new design along the lines of those in vogue 
or to make modifications of what he has seen. 

MAKING DESIGNS. 

The designer sketches the broad features of a design, floral, geo- 
metrical, or a combination of the two, but the smoothness of outline 
of such sketches can not always be reproduced, as the pattern will have 
to be displayed on a network of meshes. The sketch as made by the 
designer has to be transferred to cross-section paper by a draftsman 
and drawn to scale so that the width is proportioned to the number 
of chariots to be used and the length to the number of Jacquard cards 
employed. Briefly to illustrate: Suppose there is a sketch for a Valen- 
ciennes lace 12 centimeters wide and the sketch repeats every 7 
centimeters, and it is decided to make it on a 12-point machine. A 
12-point machine has 24 chariots to the inch, and as 12 centimeters 
is 4.72 inches this requires 112 chariots for each strip. In showing 
this on the cross-section paper there is usually employed one-fourth 
as many spaces as chariots, so for example a width of 28 squares will be 
taken. For the length of this foregoing design a rack of 1,920 mo- 
tions will make 70 centimeters of lace; hence for the 7 centimeters of 
the repeat there will be required 192 motions. It is customary to use 
one-sixteenth as many vertical squares as there are motions, so there 
will be 12 vertical squares. The design will therefore be reproduced 
on paper showing 28 by 12, or 336 squares. 

Sometimes the designer and the draftsman who puts the design on 
cross-section paper are one and the same, but it is preferable to have 
separate men to secure the best results. On the cross-section paper 
the draftsman shows in different colored ink the positions of all the 
threads and their interlacings, and this is a work that requires long 
years of study and an accurate knowledge of the capabilities of the 
machine. In complicated designs made with independent bars such 
representation is difficult, and often two or more sketches have to be 
shown to convey the idea accurately. 

The design thus completed on cross-section paper is handed over 
to a woman called a " pointer," who traces the course of each thread 
and marks its position by means of numbers on similar cross- 
section paper. While this is not very skilled work, it requires great 
accuracy. These sheets with numbers go to the puncher, who sits at 
the niano puncher and punches the cards according to the figured 
position of the different warp .threads as shown on the point paper 
before him, punching one card for each line of squares on the paper 
corresponding to one movement of the machine. The point paper 
marked with the figured position of the warp threads is usually called 
the "bareme." The cards after punching are laced together, some- 
times by machine, but oftener at Calais by hand, and are then ready 
for use on the jacquard. 



50 LACE MAKING AT CALAIS. 

PREPARATION OF THE YARN. 

Going from the designing department to the preparation depart- 
ments, the yarn is usually bought in skeins, though sometimes on the 
cop and occasionally on cones. Part of the yarn comes from England 
and part from France, the latter mainly from the fine spinning mills 
of Lille. In ordering both the French and English numbers are 
usually given so as to prevent mistake. Thus if there was required 
1,000 kilos (kilo=2.2 pounds) of two-ply No. 100 English "there 
would be ordered "1,000 kilos of No. 100/85/2 cotton yarn," which 
would be clear, as the corresponding French number is always less 
than the English number. 

In the preparation rooms will be found spoolers, warpers, wheelers, 
and perhaps twisters, cone winders, and gassing frames. The first 
operation is usually spooling. The weft threads are then run onto 
beams about 12 inches wide and 20 inches diameter. These beams 
then go to a machine usually called a "wheeler;" the girl operating 
same is called in French a "wheeleuse." This machine is used for 
filling the thin bobbins with thread. The bobbins are slid on a square 
arbor, usually 60 to 80 at a time, and each separate thread guided 
into the groove of a bobbin. An indicator marks the length of yarn 
wound on, which varies according to the size of the bobbin and the 
fineness of the yarn, but usually about 35 meters, corresponding to, 
say, three strips of lace as made by movements measuring 80 to 100 
racks. The wheeleuse is paid usually about 5 centimes per 100 bob- 
bins filled, and will make from 2 to 5 francs a day, according to skill. 
Another machine using a square arbor is used to unwind from the 
bobbins as brought back from the machine the short lengths of thread 
that remain on them. These are unwound onto ordinary spindle 
bobbins, and a small boy operates 6 or 8 of such spindles, making 1.5 
to 2.5 francs a day. The warp threads after spooling are creeled, and 
those to be used for the outline and guimp threads are wound directly 
onto small warp beams, which are about 1.5 inches diameter and in 
length either the half or the full length of the lace machine. As the 
ground warp is not so divided, but is on one beam which may have from 
7,000 to 15,000 threads, this can not be run on from one creel, but creel 
after creel is run on side by side onto the swift of a large mill, and then 
all the warp threads thus run on are run off together onto the large 
warp beam, which then goes to the lace machine. 

INSPECTION AND FINISHING. 

After the lace is made it is inspected and repaired, bleached or dyed,- 
starched, clipped, the strips cut apart, then again inspected and 
repaired, measured, folded, ticketed and put up for shipment. 

The lace is inspected and repaired in the factory, but the bleaching, 
dyeing, and starching are carried out in separate establishments. After 
bleaching and starching the lace is put on the pins of a tentering 
machine, and as it moves forward through a drying chamber the sides 
holding the lace are moved back and forth in opposite directions so as 
to draw out the meshes to their full width. Instead of a tentering 
machine a stationary tenter is usually used for fine laces and the lace 
left stretched in a heated room with fans blowing over it until well 
dried. 



LACE MACHINE AND LACE FACTORY. 51 

The lace then goes back to the factory. The next process is clip- 
ping, which may be done in the factory, but is usually outside work. 
For articles in which the floats occur in regular straight lines the 
material is put on the table, and as it is drawn forward by rollers the 
operative holds a pronged clipping knife flat on the line of floats, 
which does the work very quickly. Usually, however, the nature of 
the design is such that the floats can only be removed by regular 
scissor work, and this is done in the homes in the country for miles 
around Calais. 

The period of greatest activity in the lace industry usually occurs 
when the farm work is inactive ; thus, while the remuneration received 
by those who clip the threads is very small, it is a welcome addition 
to their income during a dull period. There are a large number of 
men known as "entrepreneurs de decoupage," or clipping contractors, 
who take quantities of the lace and distribute it throughout the 
villages as far off as the Belgian frontier and the country beyond 
Boulogne. It is a common sight to see these contractors getting on 
and off the train at Calais with great bundles of lace on their backs. 
The manufacturer pays this contractor per thousand floats, which 
means per 2,000 scissor cuts. The average figure is about 8 centimes 
(100 centimes=l franc=19.3 cents) per thousand clips, but as the 
contractor must make his profit the actual home worker gets much less. 
After the floating threads are clipped off the strips of lace are cut 
apart by cutting and drawing out the threads that bind them together. 

The lace is then returned to the factory by the clipping contractor 
and is there inspected and again repaired. It is then folded into 12- 
yard (11-meter) lengths, ticketed, put up in packets, and these packed 
in large wooden boxes. There is much variety in the methods of 
arranging for market according to the different desires of their 
customers, sometimes the lace being wrapped on cardboard, some- 
times on paper of various colors, sometimes on itself, and being 
wrapped around with gold and silver threads, with name bands, etc. 
The packets of Valenciennes are usually put up to contain three 
12-yard strips, but there is no fixed rule as to the other varieties. 



WAGES PAID IN CALAIS, 



SCHEDULE OF PAY DRAWN UP THROUGH JOINT AGREEMENT VARIA- 
TIONS ACCORDING TO BUSINESS CONDITIONS. 

The worker who operates a lace machine at Calais making tulle or 
lace is called a "tulliste." He is paid per "rack," and by rack is 
meant 1,920 picks or motions made by the bobbin and its chariot 
through the lines of warp threads ; that is, 960 motions from front to 
rear and 960 motions from rear to front. The price paid per rack 
varies according to the kind of lace being made, according to the 
gage of the machine, the width of the lace strips, etc., and is usually 
based on the tariff of wages made up in 1890 for the different articles. 

In the early part of 1890 the factory owners held a meeting to put 
an end to ruinous competition among themselves due to under- 
cutting of wages by some of their members. They drew up a com- 
plicated wage tariff that was to be adopted as the minimum below 
which no manufacturer was to go. The workers thought that an 
attempt was being made to lower their wages, and immediately 
struck, refusing to work under any wages tariff in which they had no 
voice. Their claim was finally allowed, and a committee of the 
" Association des Fabricants de Dentelles de Calais," jointly with a com- 
mittee from the "Y Union Francaise des Ouvriers Tullistes," drew up a 
mutually satisfactory schedule, This was adopted for one year, and 
at the end of that time was repudiated by the manufacturers, but 
the workers' associations continued to agitate for its enforcement 
and boycotted those who attempted to pay less, until in 1896 it was 
again accepted by the employers. This tariff is not always adhered 
to, and in flush times like 1905, 1906, and part of 1907 the actual 
remuneration ran very much above the schedule, but prices have now 
dropped back to rock bottom, and as the employees resist any 
attempt to cut under the schedule this tariff is at present very gen- 
erally observed in Calais. 

The wage tariff as made in 1890 specified 21 articles, and the 
revision that was made in 1906 added 9 others, giving 30 articles 
which practically covers the range of work. 

The standard on which the tariff is based is the lace machine of 
144 to 154 inches and the "rack" of 1,920 motions. For every 
10 inches or fraction of 10 inches that the machine is longer or shorter 
than the standard given there is added or subtracted 5 centimes 
from the standard prices. The schedule is for work in the gray, 
and for all classes there is added for black work the following addi- 
tions: 10 centimes more for gages under 9 point, 15 centimes more 
for gages 9 to 12 point, and 20 centimes more for gages above 12 
point. For triple-warp work there is added to the regular schedule 
the following for all classes: 10 centimes for gages 9 to 10 point, 
15 centimes for gages 10 to 12 point, 20 centimes for gages 12 to 14 
point, and 25 centimes for gages above 14 point. "Hauteur," as 

52 



WAGES PAID IX CALAIS. 



53 



given in the wage schedule, refers to the width of the lace strips. 
It is given not in centimeters, but in reseaux or meshes. "Rende- 
ment," as given in the schedules, refers to the length of lace woven 
by a rack of 1,920 motions. This length will vary according to the 
size of the mesh and the class of work being made, but for each 
article there is chosen a certain "rendement" or standard production, 
on which the price is based, and then for lengths longer or shorter 
there is added or subtracted 5 centimes for every 15 centimeters or 
fraction of 15 centimeters difference from the standard selected. 

The first article given in the wage tariff of 1890 is Chantilly lace, 
and the tulliste is recompensed as follows in francs per rack: 

Article I. — Chantilly. 

Four bars, without fine bars, double warp. Standard: 144-154 inch machine; 
1,920 motion rack. 





9 to 10 


10 per 20 per 


30 per 


40 per 


50 per 


Hauteur. 


cent more cent more cent more 
up to 11 up to 12 , up to 13 


cent more 
up to 14 


cent more 
up to 15 




sive. 


points. points. points. 


points. 


points. 


• 












30 


0. 65 


0. 71 0. 78 


0.85 


0.91 


0.97 


36 


70 


.77 .84 


.91 


.98 


1.05 


48 


.75 


.82 .90 


.97 


1.05 


1.12 


64 


! .80 


.88 ! .96 


1.04 


1.12 


1.20 


80 


.85 


. 94 1. 02 


1.10 


1.19 


1.27 


96 


90 


. 99 1. 08 


1.17 


1.26 


1.35 


104 


95 


1.05 1.14 


1.24 


1.33 


1.42 


112 


1. 00 


1.10 ' 1.20 


1.30 


1.40 


1.50 



Under 9 point subtract 10 per cent for every point of gage. Production (rende- 
ment) of 70 centimeters to the rack taken as the standard and 5 centimes added or 
subtracted for every 15 centimeters or fraction thereof more or less than the standard. 
Compensation for length of machine different from the standard, for black on the 
machine, or for triple warp, as previously given. 

In the foregoing it is seen that the price increases 10 per cent 
for every point of gage. This is the case with the first nine articles, 
of which the prices paid for the 9 to 10 point gage and other gages 
given in the next table can be figured therefrom by adding 10 per 
cent for every additional point. Including the Chantilly above, this 
table is as follows: 





Chan- 
tilly: 

4 bars 


Chan- 
tilly: 
Fine 


Plume- 
tis or 
floss: 


Plume- 

tis or 
floss: 








Center 

guimps 

with 

stump 

bars 

and fine 

bars. 


Mate- 
lasses 




without 


bars, 


4 bars 


Stump 


Mat 


Mat 


Center 




Hauteur. 


fine 
bars, 
double 


stump 
bars, 
and 


with- 
out 
fine 


bars 
and 
fine 


chains. 


bobbin. 


guimps. 


in front 
and 




warp. 


guimps. 


bars. 


bars. 












No. 1. 


No. 2. 


No. 3. 


No. 4. 


No. 5. 


No. 0. 


No. 7. 


No. 8. 


No. 9. 


30 


0.65 


0.70 


0.65 


0. 70 


0.70 


0. 75 


0.65 


0.70 


0.85 


36 


.70 


.75 


.70 


. 75 


.75 


.80 


.70 


.75 


.90 


48 


.75 


.85 


. 75 


.85 


.85 


,90 


. 75 


.85 


.95 


64 


.80 


.90 


.80 


,90 


.90 


.95 


.80 


.90 


1.05 


80 


.85 


1.00 


.85 


1.00 


1.00 


1.05 


.85 


1.00 


1.15 


96 


.90 


1.05 


90 


1.10 


1.05 


1.10 


90 


1.10 


1.20 


104 


.95 
1.00 


1.10 
1.15 


.95 
1.00 


1.15 
1.20 


1.10 
1.15 


1.20 
1.20 


.95 
1.00 


1.15 
1.20 


1.25 


112 


1.25 


120 


1.05 


1.20 


1.05 


1.25 


1.20 


1.25 


1.05 


1.25 


1.35 







: I II MAXES O \-_. 



F : articles N"os ! " s:andaid prodtiction or "rende- 

men: V _ ~ enti- 

metezs :: the rack: for articles Pfoe _ - 

the rack and for article ^i » as ' 9 centra i - the 
rack ' entimes is led : r sway 15 Bntamctas r fraction 

f thai :he pre Id _ : n per rack ex ee Is the length :aken as the 
standard : particular article 

The tariff for other art: Jes is is : 

AHrrao-E Xo. 10. — Laazes mui looses zohktfts 
With or withoat border? v. 1 small %nres: 4 bar? without arte " -Jsud 





*.m 




ft.67 


1ft 


.. • 4C 




— 


_: .5 — 















1 


■ 




V 











... . . '- ::::.:.- :_ : : : ' • ■■. .. : : ■.:-.. _--:.. 

article with, fine bars or with, center guimpe add 5 centimes more if under 11 points and 

1" .'ri".z-' :: 11 ; Lzt= : j:-:"t 

±j.zz ;iz V 11 — - 7 - - 

...r.;- - ■ -• —L -. ::• : : . r M;- : ,V— ~zzi :- — :.'.'. Tiizh* :rz: 

10 to - S: --.--.:■.-'. -;: 1 - ". . - ■.:_: " :- w :v 



?:--5. 



ft.... 
1ft— 






b independent bars, double warp. Standard production per rack. 65 cend- 



" .- ' v 






WAGES PAID IN CALAIS. 



55 



Article No. 13. — Article bourdon. 
Heavy bobbin, double warp. Standard production, 50 centimeters per rack. 



Hauteur. 


Francs. 


Hauteur. 


Francs. 


30 


1.15 
1.15 

1.20 


64 


1.25 


36 


80.-... 


1.30 


48 


96 


1.40 









Article No. 14. — Large ground articles. 

Centimes. 

Plain ground 40 

Plain ground with spots or lozenges 50 

Plain ground with larger designs 60 

Article No. 15. — Silk articles, single warp. 

Four bars without fine bars. Standard production per rack, 85 centimeters. 



Hauteur. 


Centimes. 


Hauteur. 


Centimes. 


24 ' 


50 
55 
60 


48 . ... 


60 


30. 


64 


65 


36... 











Article No. 16. — Woolens. 



With independent bars. 



Hauteur. 


91 points. 


9| points. 


9^ points. 10 points. 


36 


0.60 80 
.65 .85 
.70 .90 
.75 > .95 


0.85 
.90 
.95 

i nn 


0.90 


48 .. 


95 


60 


1 00 


72 


1 05 


96 


.80 1 00 i 1 05 


1.10 













Standard production per rack taken as 100 centimeters and 5 centimes added for 
every 15 centimeters more than the standard. 

Article No. 17. — Carres, filets neuvilles, and points de Paris. 

With independent warp and bars. 



Points. 


Centimes. 


Points. 


Centimes. 


9 to 10, inclusive 


40 
45 




50 


10 to 11, inclusive 


Above 12 


55 









Article No. 18. — Guipure, cluny, and similar. 

With independent bars. Standard in this case taken as double rack of 3,840 motions. 
The rate includes up to 80 bars for large rack. 



Points. 


Centimes. 


Points. 


Centimes. 


9 to 10, inclusive 


90 
100 




no 


10 to 11, inclusive 


Above 12 


120 





56 LACE MAKING AT CALAIS. 

Article No. 19. — Valenciennes. 
Standard in this case taken as double rack of 3,840 motions. 



Bars. 


9 to 10 
points. 


10 to 11 
points. 


11 to 12 
points. 


Up to 40 


0.80 

.85 

.90 

.95 

1.00 

1.05 

1.10 

1.15 

1.20 


0.85 
.90 
.95 
1.00 
1.05 
1.10 
1.15 
1.20 
1.25 


0.90 


From 40 to 60 


.95 


From 60 to 80 . . 


1.00 


From 80 to 100 . . . 


1.05 


From 100 to 120 


1.10 


From 120 to 140 


1.15 


From 140 to 160 


1.20 


From 160 to 180 


1.25 


From 180 to 200 


1.30 







Add 5 centimes more for each additional point of gage. 

Article No. 20. — Plain platts. 

With fine bars. Standard in this case taken as double rack of 3,840 motions. Rate 
per large rack. 



Points. 


Centimes. 

80 
90 
100 


Points. 


Centimes. 


Up to 9f 


12 to 13 




110 


9-| to 11 


13 to 14... 


120 


11 to 12 


14 to 15 


130 









Article No. 20 bis. 
fraction of 10 bars. 



-Platts with embroidery, add 5 centimes more per 10 bars or 



Article No. 21. — Cotton loop ground. 

Single warp. Regular standard of 1,920 motions to the rack. Up to 40 bars pay 50 
centimes a rack and add 5 centimes for each 20 bars or fraction of 20 bars above 40 
bars. Standard production per rack taken as 75 centimeters. For double warp add 
5 centimes and for triple warp 10 centimes per rack. 

changing. 

A day of changing is to be recompensed with 4 francs per ten hours. An entire week 
of changing will be paid for by 25 francs. There will be considered as changing: (1) 
Setting up the machine; (2) changing the material on a machine, even partially; 
(3) trying a new design that takes more than a day to get in full operation; (4) 
changing the article. 

When tne worker who makes the alterations gains 30 francs in the week, the changing 
price will not be paid him. For example: (1) when a worker has made three days of 
alteration work at 4 francs, which is 12 francs, and has also made 15 francs by the rack, 
which will be 27 francs total, that will be his week's salary; (2) when worker has 
made three days of alteration at 4 francs, or 12 francs, and has made 22 trancs by the 
rack, or a total of 34 francs, his week's wages will be only the 30 francs. 

All alterations which do not last a day will not be paid for unless the worker has not 
been furnished with machine work by the rack before the alteration work. All alter- 
ations which will be made by a worker on a machine other than his own, however, 
will be paid according to the amount that he would have earned on his own machine. 

For working up a warp of less than 50-hank lengths, the worker will be paid addi- 
tional: 10 centimes up to 10-point gage, 15 centimes for 10 to 12 point, and 20 centimes 
above 1'2-point gage. 

general considerations. 

First, selvage bars, stump bars, etc., will not be counted as bars employed. 
Second, as for the " volants et barbes ' ' (embroidered places on the raised figures) they 
will be paid for as follows: 5 centimes more to the rack for simple work, 10 centimes 



WAGES PAID IN CALAIS. 



57 



more to the rack for large threads and fine bar work, 15 centimes more to the rack for 
more complicated work, and 20 centimes per rack for the difficult work. 

Third, for "laizes'' (widths ) fabricated with the same mounting as for the bands 
the price will be the same. 

Fourth, cotton articles of which the mounting is the same as for silk articles (such as 
Alencon, Bretonnes, Bischop, etc.) will be paid for at the same rate as for the silk 
articles. 

Fifth, for articles which do not appear in the present tariff the remuneration may 
be such as mutually agreed on by employers and employees. 

Sixth, for articles using gold, silk, or other metal threads the additions to be made 
to the regular tariff shall be as mutually agreed on for each case. 

Seventh, lighting, heating, and oiling shall be at the charge of the employer. 

Eighth, the standard of length of the machine, 144 to 154 inches, shall be taken as 
the tariff basis for all articles. 

Ninth, the week commences Monday morning at 8 o'clock and finishes Saturday 
evening at 6 o'clock. 

Tenth, for the application of the present tariff and for the settlement of disputes 
there shall be a commission of six members, of which three shall be employers and 
three employees, these to be taken from their respective associations. 

The foregoing tariff for 21 articles was agreed to in 1890 and is 
still in force. In 1906 there was added the following articles: 

Article 22. — Various articles with, heavy border threads using gaaes under point 9. 





Hauteur. 


Up to 6 

bars. 


6 to 12 
bars. 


12 to 18 
bars. 


18 to 24 
bars. 




f 72 

1 96 

120 

( 144 

72 

96 

120 

I 144 


0.95 
1.00 
1.05 
1 10 
1.05 
1.10 
1.15 
1.20 


1.00 
1.05 
1.10 
1.15 
1.10 
1.15 
1.20 
1.25 


1.05 
1.10 
1.15 
1.20 
1.15 
1.20 
1.25 
1.30 


1.10 
1.15 




1.20 
1.30 

1.20 
1.25 




1.30 
1.35 



Add 5 centimes more for each 6 bars or fraction of 6 bars of bourdon. The fine bars 
fix the width. Standard production taken as 1.20 meters per rack and 5 centimes are 
added for each 15 centimeters or fraction thereof up to 1.5 meters; over 1.5 meters add 
10 centimes for each 15 centimeters or fraction thereof. 

Add 5 centimes for each half point of gage above 5 point. Add 5 centimes for center 
guimps. For center guimps and triple warp add 5 centimes for gages up to 5 point, 
7^ centimes for gages 5 to 6 point, and 10 centimes for gages 6 to 7 point. 

Article 23. — Veilings called armure. 
Standard production taken as 50 to SO centimeters per rack. Plain gages: 

Up to 8| points 0. 30 

9 to 10 points ! 35 

10 to 11 points 385 

11 to 12 points 42 

12 to 13 points 455 

13 to 14 points 39 

14 to 15 points 525 

For reduced gages: Add 5 centimes for each half gage from 16 to 10 points, and same 
from 9 points under. For 3 chariots inside and 1 out pay as for plain gages. For 2 
chariotsin and 1 out, the same. For 1 chariot in and 3 out pay \ gage. Standard 
production taken as 80 centimeters for reduced gages and 2.5 centimes added for each 
30 centimeters; below 50 centimeters subtract 2.5 centimes for each 30 centimeters 
less. 

"Mouches" with the warp: Mouches of 4 gaits or less add 2.5 centimes. Mouehes 
of 6 gates add 2 centimes, of 8 gaits 2.5 centimes, more taken on the plain gage supple- 
ment for the mouches as for 2 and 3 gaits. 

Bars: For 8 bars or fraction of 8 bars up to 16 bars working with the warp, 2 centimes 
more. Bars working with heavy thread, separating, or lor selvage do not count as 
additional. For "friquettes" embroidered with independent bars, apply article 10 
of the tariff. 



58 LACE MAKING AT CALAIS. 

Length of machine: Machines above or below the standard of 144/154 inches will be 
paid more or less in proportion to their length. For a reduction under 120 inches for 
\ the supplementary warp add 5 centimes, for J warp add 10 centimes. 

Article 24. — Large ground. 

Additional: To add to article 14 the lozenges more than 2 centimeters in diameter 
pay 60 centimes. One-half warp supplementary 10 centimes more per half gage. 
Entire warp supplementary \ gage 10 centimes more. 

Article 25. — Imitation Valenciennes, double warp. 

For center guimps apply article 8. For guimps in center and rear apply article 9. 
Reductions: One-half warp 10 centimes less up to 10 points inclusive. Fifteen cen- 
times less from 10 to 15 points. 

Article 26. — Heavy cotton bobbin, flat kind with coarse border thread. 

Apply article 6 of the tariff. The article 20 bis (platt with embroidery i say from 1 
to 10 outline or border threads only to start from the hauteur 36. 

Article 27. — Mouches made with iron yarn. 

Friquettes laizes \ gage, with four rolls for \ warp, covering silk in gray, bleached, 
and black. These articles have no tariff but are by agreement. 

Article 28. — Cluny and similar. 

Coarse guipure, independent bars with or without repetition. Standard production 
taken as 50 centimeters; 55 centimes up to 60 bars; 5 centimes more for each fraction 
of 10 baiis additional; 5 centimes more for each 10 centimeters more of production. 

Article 29. — Supplementary to article 29 of the tariff. 

The standard of production of the Valenciennes will be 40 centimeters per rack of 
1,920 motions. Add 5 centimes for each fraction of 10 centimeters above the standard 
up to 80 centimeters; 10 centimeters more for each fraction of 10 centimeters above 
80 centimeters. 

Article 30. — Torchon guipure with independent bars. 

Standard production taken as 60 centimeters, using 60 bars. For every 20 bars or 
fraction thereof additional add 5 centimes. For every 15 centimeters or fraction 
thereof of production additional add 5 centimes. 

SUMMARY OF WAGES. 

In the tariff the actual wages received by the tulliste works out as 
follows: Take a piece of 10-point Chantilly lace of 64-mesh width. 
The remuneration is 80 centimes a rack and the machine will get off 
about 240 racks a week working 20 hours a day with two shifts. 
This would be 192 francs to be divided between the two tullistes or 
about $18.50 a week each. On a 10-point Valenciennes 100 to 120 
bars the rack is remunerated for at one franc. There may be gotten 
off 300 racks on this, so there will be 300 racks to be divided between 
the tullistes, which would be $29 to each for their week's work. 

It is seen that on the latter the pay per rack is higher, and it hap- 
pens in this particular case that it is an article on which more racks 
can be made on, but the work is more difficult and.it requires a 
much more skillful tulliste, so that the remuneration depends on the 
skill of the worker, and only the best workers are given the finer 
and higher paying articles. 

The foregoing examples are for a week of steady work with the 
article unchanged. Ordinarily there is much time lost by reason of 
setting up and changing designs and other causes, so that the ordi- 



WAGES PAID IN CALAIS. 



59 



nary wages of a good tulliste will probably not average much over 
50 francs or $10 a week. In exceptional times on very fine work 
this average may run up into the hundreds of francs, and as previously 
noted, one tulliste employed by Mr. Henon has made the record earn- 
ings of 2,000 francs a week. 

The tulliste is the best paid of the operatives with the exception of 
the designer and the manager. The bobbin and clippers are also 
paid by the piece, while the majority of the other hands are employed 
in lace work by the day or week and the office force by the month. 
The " wheel euse, " or girls who fill the bobbins, are paid usually 5 cen- 
times a hundred bobbins. 

As previously noted the clipping is usually taken by contractors 
who let it out to home workers. The contractor is paid 8 centimes 
per 1,000 floats cut which calls for 2,000 clips of the scissors and the 
home worker gets about 6 centimes out of this. Cutting and pulling 
out the threads that hold together the different strips of lace is paid 
for usually at the rate of one franc per 100 meters of lace. The home 
workers only make from 15 to 40 cents a day. 

The wages received by the workers in an average Calais lace fac- 
tory will average about as follows per week: 



Designer (first class) 

Draftsman 

Woman pointer 

Card puncher 

Card lacer 

Warper on ground warps. , 

Warper on small rolls for guimps, etc 

Wheeleuse (bobbin filler) 

"Remonteur," setting up design on machine 

Mender 

Folding, ticketing, etc 



Francs. 



100 to 300 
75 to 200 
40 to 80 
50 
20 
50 
30 
35 
20 
25 
18 



Dollars. 



30 to 57. 90 
50 to 38 50 
75 to 15. 50 
9.65 
3.86 
9.65 
5 79 
6.75 
3 86 
4.83 
3.47 



O 



^ 



